Max Bursak: “One can make a 100-0 record with such opposition”

 
CRAFTY Ukrainian veteran Max Bursak knows that he will be going into this weekend’s IBO super middleweight title clash against Zac Dunn at the Royal Exhibition Building as a heavy underdog.

 
But to those who think that the former middleweight world title challenger is coming to Melbourne for purely for his pay check, you are most certainly mistaken.

 
Speaking to a lively media gathering at an open training session in Ukraine shortly before he boarded for Melbourne, Bursak (31-3-1, 14 KOs) spoke intelligently and with due respect for the challenge at hand.

 
It is understandable to see why many are over looking Bursak.

 
Having mostly campaigned at middleweight, some see him as shop worn or perhaps even unmotivated. And while decision losses to Hassan N’Dam and Martin Murray aren’t to be scoffed at, many still doubt his credentials.

 
But unlike his undefeated opponent in Zac Dunn (17-0, 15 KOs), Bursak has a proven track record at world level, which is something he believes will hold him in good stead on the night.

 
“He’s a strong guy, I have studied him very well,” said Bursak. “He’s physically strong, young and hungry. The audience will urge him to come forward and I should not forget about it.”

 
“His weakness is that he has had no worthy opposition before.”

 
“He is untested so we will check him, I think is stamina is not very good either, because he ended almost all his fights in a couple of rounds. We will try to expose it in the fight.”

 
“Physically, I’ll be ready for his onslaught. My conditioning went very well, I’ll be ready for twelve rounds at a high pace. If he runs at me from the first round, it will not play him good.”

 
“He’ll run out of steam much faster than I.”

 
When probed on his strategy to deal with Dunn’s aggressive forward-walking style of fighting, Bursak revealed little aside from the fact that he has prepared meticulously for the twelve-round battle.

 
“We’ll see. I’ll watch him for a couple of rounds and then I’ll decide what to do,” Bursak continued. “As far as I know from his interviews, he wants to come forward but I’ll decide what to do based on his tactics in the ring.”

 
“Maybe he will run away from me and I will have to come forward. Maybe I should run instead and have to counterpunch,”

 
Boxing is a game of perception. People’s opinion on fighters will vary, just like the styles that they present in the ring. To the Australian media, Bursak offers resistant, while our Ukrainian counterparts see Dunn as a risky proposition.

 
But Bursak’s opinion is somewhere in the middle. Although he is the first to admit that Dunn has done well thus far as a professional, he highlights the rising prospect’s opposition as the main reason he has looked so good.

 
“He’s not stupid,” explained Bursak. “He knows the opponent who is before him – he knows who is dangerous and who is not – one can make a 100-0 record with such opposition.”

 
“I am ready for the fight, I am going to win and I’m sure that I will bring home this belt,”

 
Bursak, 30, is promoted by K2 Promotions, the company notorious for promoting it’s namesake Wladimir Klitschko, as well as bludgeoning middleweight sensation Gennady Golovkin.

 
If Bursak is successful in bringing home the IBO super middleweight title, he is well-informed that he will next face the winner of the looming WBO super middleweight title clash between Arthur Abraham and Robert Stieglitz.

 
“I don’t want to look behind someone’s back, but it’s true,” he quipped. “The winner of our fight could face the winner of the Abraham vs. Stieglitz fight and it could be made in November. It could be held in Monaco.”

 
 
Photo: K2 Promotions