WBO interim lightweight champion Ricky Burns was attacked by thugs while he was training at home in Scotland.
Burns, who returns to the ring at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena in March, was out jogging in his hometown of Coatbridge in Lanarkshire when a group of youths began chasing him, hurling abuse and throwing cans and bottles at him.
Burns said he was not prepared to risk losing his boxing license by challenging the thugs, but called the police, who arrived too late to catch the attackers.
“Out jogging tonight and a group decide to shout abuse at you, chuck stuff and chase after you,” Burns wrote on his facebook page. “You phone the police and report it and they just drive by 10 minutes later. It’s a joke. What’s Coatbridge coming to?”
“I am absolutely disgusted, not just at the crowd of hard men that were throwing bottles at my son but at Strathclyde’s ‘finest’ who don’t seem to care,” Burns’ mother Tracey said. “Time to move out to the countryside, methinks.”
A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said, “We received a complaint about youths harassing a man on Coatbridge Main Street at around 10.30pm on Monday night. Officers attended but no further action was taken.”