Ricky Burns, Lyndon Arthur, and Dina Thorslund Triumphant on Friday in Europe

Ricky Burns, Lyndon Arthur, and Dina Thorslund Triumphant on Friday in Europe

Boxing in the U.S. was dormant on Labor Day Weekend, but it was business as usual across the big pond where important shows were staged on the first day of September in Glasgow, Scotland, in Bolton, England, and in Holstebro, Denmark.

Glasgow

In an event that had the flavor of a lifetime achievement award show, former three-division world title-holder Ricky Burns crossed swords with his most prominent Glasgow contemporary, Willie Limond, in a welterweight contest slated for 12 rounds. This was understood to be the farewell fight for both combatants.

Burns, 40, was a solid favorite over Limond, 44. who had fought only three times in the previous six-plus years and purportedly pared off 56 pounds to secure this assignment. And, as expected, it was Burns (pictured on the right) who had his hand raised when the referee waived the contest off at the conclusion of the eighth round.

There was little drama after Burns broke Limond’s nose with a punch in the fourth stanza. The punch unleashed a torrent of blood that coated Limond’s face and chest.

At the end, the gallant Limond (42-6, 13 KOs) announced that he was finally done with boxing. Ricky Burns (45-8-1, 17 KOs) hedged his bet.

“I’ve always said, when I stop boxing, I never want to come back,” said Burns who was making his first appearance in his home city since 2017. “But, if that phone rings, it’s a decent fight and my missus gives me the green light, it’s game on.”

Burns, in the words of Scottish Sun boxing writer Gareth Law, left himself a little bit of wriggle room. For the immediate future, however, Burns intends to switch sports and compete in a HYROX race in October in Birmingham. (HYROX is an indoor sport that combines running with functional workout stations. A variation of a triathlon, it is aimed at physical fitness fanatics.)

In an undercard fight of note, Willie Limond’s 19-year-old welterweight son Jake improved to 5-0 (0) with a 6-round shutout over Stefan Vincent (1-3).

Bolton

Lyndon Arthur, a 32-year-old Mancunian ranked #4 at 175 pounds by the WBO, came back from the brink of defeat to score a tenth-round knockout over Argentina’s Braian Suarez in the featured bout of a Wasserman promotion. Suarez, who was 18-1 with 17 KOs coming in, knocked Arthur down in the waning seconds of round four and had him in dire straits as round five was drawing to a close. But Arthur weathered the storm and ultimately prevailed, putting the Argentine away with a “solar plexus” punch at the 2:55 mark of round 10 in the scheduled 12-rounder.

Lyndon Arthur

It was the fourth straight win for Arthur (23-1, 16 KOs) whose only defeat came when he was stopped by Anthony Yarde in their second encounter. He was plainly losing the fight when he landed his knockout punch. After a delayed reaction, Suarez slumped to the canvas and was counted out.

In the co-feature, which actually went last, Samuel Antwi, a 31-year-old Londoner of Ghanaian extraction, won the vacant BBBofC super welterweight title with a brutal 12^th-round knockout of teak-tough Mason Cartwright.

Antwi (17-2, 8 KOs) had all the best of the early milling. He landed the more damaging punches. But Cartwright (19-4-1), who was making his second stab at this belt, came on strong in the late rounds. In round 12, likely knowing he needed a knockout to win, Cartwright let his guard down and paid the price. Antwi knocked him woozy with a big right hook and followed up with a left-right combination that knocked him out cold.

These fights, both of which provided great drama, aired free in the UK on Channel 5 and were live-streamed elsewhere on DAZN.

Holstebro, Denmark

Copenhagen native Dina Thorslund successfully defended her WBO world bantamweight title and added a second world title belt to her portfolio with a unanimous decision over WBC belt-holder Yuliahn Luna. The scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93.

Dina Thorslund

The undefeated Thorslund, 29, who works as a therapist with disabled children and has a nine-year-old son, advanced her record to 20-0 (8). Mexico’s Luna 29, declined to 25-4-1.

The other bantamweight titlists are England’s 40-year-old Nina Hughes (WBA) who was at the event as a TV commentator, and 36-year-old, UK-based Australian sexpot Ebanie Bridges (IBF).

In an undercard bout of note, Brazil’s Hebert Conceicao improved to 5-0 (3) with a second-round demolition of Polish journeyman Robert Talarek (27-22-3). Conceicao ended his amateur career with a smashing knockout of his Ukrainian opponent in the gold medal round of the Tokyo Olympics.

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