Ryan Burnett said he had to 'dig deep' to overcome former sparring partner Zhanat Zhakiyanov in his title unification triumph in Belfast last night.
In front of a partisan home crowd, the 25-year-old Irishman outpointed one of the toughest opponents in the bantamweight division, handing the Kazakh just his second career defeat and adding the WBA belt to the IBF prize he claimed in June.
"I saw this so clearly," he told Sky Sports of having both belts around his shoulders. "It was a tough tough fight for me. I had to dig deep but I did it.
"The plan was to try to box him, keep it at range but he's that strong, he kept coming forward and I had to adapt to his game.
"The shots he was throwing, I had to block and make sure they weren't getting through. Thank God it worked and I'm champ now."
The unbeaten Burnett has now won the last seven of his 18 fights on points after starting his career with a run of nine knock-outs in 11. He believes he's shown versatility on the way to becoming a double champion.
"I boxed (Lee) Haskings, he's one of the trickiest people in the division and now I've boxed the hardest hitter in the division. I think I've proved a point."
Back from hospital.. @ryanburnett01 the unified World champion at 25 years of age! #Champchamp @SkySportsBoxing @HBOboxing pic.twitter.com/HCplxQJ5xg
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) October 22, 2017
Burnett was assessed in hospital after suffering headaches post-fight but was released shortly afterwards.
Promoter Eddie Hearn suggested the 25-year-old may now seek to add to his collection of belts in Belfast in February or March, possibly against WBA 'regular' champion Jamie McDonnell or WBo title holder Zolani Tete.
Zhakiyanov's trainer Ricky Hatton, who also used to train Burnett, accepted that the better man won but criticised the wide margin of the scorecards: 118-110, 119-109 and 116-112.
"I thought Ryan just nicked it," he said. "Them scorecards were shocking.
"Even the hardest of Belfast fight fans would say that was a little bit harsh on Zhanat but I think the better man just won in the end."
