Burns back with big intentions

He’s the man who helped bring Jermain Taylor to the top of the middleweight heap. Now, Taylor’s former trainer, Pat Burns is back as a color man for bigstar.tv’s webcast from the American Airlines Arena in Miami on June 29th. “I think Jermain’s a great fighter and I wish him the best of luck,” was all Burns would comment about Taylor when posed a question in regards to his performance against Ronald “Winky” Wright. Burns will be calling the Pay Per View Webcast along with Benny Ricardo, the ex-San Diego Charger who moonlights as a standup comic in clubs around the country.

The straightforward Burns made it clear from the start that he wouldn’t be willing to talk about his former fighter who just defended his title in a draw against “Winky” Wright. “I’ll talk about Bigstar for an hour but anything regarding Jermain has already been said,” stated a seemingly irked Burns when further pressed for some info regarding “Bad Intentions” Taylor and his most recent performance.

You can’t blame Burns for not wanting to revisit the fact the he was replaced as Taylor’s trainer for the better known Emmanuel Steward from the Kronk gym. After all, Burns was the man who guided Taylor to an undefeated mark and to two wins over a living legend in Bernard Hopkins. Being let go must’ve been hurtful for someone that is described by others in the industry as a person with principles, loads of talent and a good heart.

Unfortunately, when it comes to money and boxing, sometimes lifelong loyalty goes out the window as the sharks begin to circle and whisper in a fighter’s ear. Even old burns still hurt and they take time to heal. Burns is now looking to move forward with Bigstar which he feels will bring a new dimension to the world of boxing.

But is the world ready for pay-per-view boxing on the internet? “I don’t know if the world is ready for boxing on the net but we’re certainly going to try and make it a success,” said Burns. It’s been tried before by different outlets but none has been able to keep the momentum going and none has been able to profit from it. The now defunct CMXSports tried to do it a couple of years ago but couldn’t make it stick. One of the reasons was that the technology on the user end just was not sophisticated enough. That’s quickly changing as more and more households move to broadband and DSL as their main internet connections. The much faster connection enables a viewer to more effectively watch streamed video content without the inconvenience of freezing images.

Jorge Dalmau is one of the main backers of Bigstar along with brother Xavi and says he’s going to revolutionize the pay-per-view game. “This will be the end of the fifty dollar pay-per-view,” he said. “We’re charging five dollars to watch some great fights, which is very reasonable,” he continued. “A fighter out of Colombia or Venezuela can be watched by his hometown fans by accessing an internet connection. The potential for a world audience is incredible. The technology is much better now. Once you buy the pay-per-view, you can watch it when ever you want much like if you had a DVD of the fight.”

Although Burns won’t say it, both Ricardo and Dalmau felt that the Jermain Taylor in the ring against “Winky” was not the same fighter that defeated Hopkins twice. “Taylor would’ve easily beaten Wright if Pat Burns was in his corner. He certainly wasn’t using his jab like he did against Hopkins,” assures Ricardo who’s been calling the fight game for over sixteen years at several different outlets including ESPN International. “If that fight had taken place in Las Vegas, Wright would’ve taken that decision. It’s the reason the fight was moved to a venue about twenty miles from Arkansas where Taylor is like a God,” he adds.

Burns is still considered one of the best trainers in the game by boxing’s big players. It’s rumored that he’s being interviewed to be Oscar De La Hoya’s trainer should the “Golden Boy” face Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year.

For now, training is taking a back seat for Burns as he focuses solely on making Bigstar successful.

Bigstar, which is also a promotional entity, has recently signed light heavyweight Rico Hoye and Burns will be calling the shots when it comes to bringing new talent on board. “We’re interested in fighters with potential. We want to see fighters from all levels whether they’re just starting out as pros or if they have some sort of amateur background. One never knows when you have a diamond in the rough. Sometimes a kid may have all the tools but he just doesn’t know how to use them effectively. What we’re not interested in are fighters who have problems outside the ring. Problems with drugs and things of that nature,” says Burns.

Burns is moving on.

The start time for the show will be 9:00 p.m. on the east coast and 6:00 p.m. in the west. The line up will feature Tiger Smalls taking on Francisco Lorenzo in the main event. Also scheduled are Danny “The Bronx Bomber” Santiago (27-2, 18 KO’s), Clarence “Bones” Adams (41-6) and Stacey “Sta-Lo” Reile who is currently undefeated at 5 and 0. She’ll be taking on Lekeysha Williams (9-8-2). A total of seven bouts are slated for the evening.

For more info on the show go to www.bigstar.tv