Ricky Burns (left) tried his best against Terence Crawford in March, but lost his WBO lightweight title to the talented American via unanimous decision. Photo by Mark Runnacles-Getty Images

Former two-weight world titleholder Ricky Burns has been penciled in to face ex-WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa at 140 pounds in San Antonio, Texas, on May 9.

“It is official,” said the Scotsman’s management team.

Burns, who has held WBO titles at junior lightweight and lightweight, is 2-2-1 in his previous five outings. The 31-year-old struggled mightily to overcome Jose Gonzalez in nine, before sustaining a badly broken jaw in a controversial tie with Raymundo Beltran.

The former champion recovered but lost his lightweight title to Terence Crawford, and worse was to come when he was edged out on a split decision by the unheralded Dejan Zlaticanin. Burns got himself back in the win column with an eight-round points win over Alexandre Lepelley in October last year, and that also happened to be his junior welterweight debut.

Figueroa (24-0-1, 18 knockouts), born and raised in Texas, defended his WBC title against Jerry Belmontes and Daniel Estrada before outgrowing the weight class. Rumors even circulated that the 25-year-old was considering a jump to welterweight, such was the desperate battle he was having with the scales, but the Burns bout indicates a pit stop at 140 pounds.

Tom Gray is a member of the British Boxing Writers’ Association and has contributed to various publications. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing