RICKY BURNS’ Las Vegas dream of going up against Adrien Broner is within touching distance after he defended his world super lightweight title with a points victory over Kiryl Relikh.

This was the 33-year-old’s first defence of the belt he won back in May against Michele Di Rocco but the Coatbridge fighter was given a torrid time by the man from Minsk at the SSE Hydro.

With the promise of a match up against former four-weight champ Broner in Nevada if he came through this bout, an exhausted Burns went the full 12 rounds against a resilient and, up to this meeting, undefeated Relikh, who came to Glasgow with an extraordinary 19 knock outs from 21 wins.

Burns recovered after a slow start in Glasgow to take a narrow lead in this contest only for Relikh to have him rattled and on the ropes for the last two rounds before a late, late surge.

In the end the result went to the judges after a thrilling fight with all three scoring in Burns’ favour.

"We stuck to the game plan, stuck to boxing, I got the win that is the main thing, and now I move on to the next one," said Burns. "He gave it a right good go, I said I was expecting a hard 12 rounds and that is what I got tonight.

With sound of Canada’s Nickelback screeching through the Hydro’s booming sound system, it was Scotland’s boxing icon whose name soon rang round an arena, not quite filled to capacity, with his adoring fans.

Boxing in his second bout in the last year here, Burns looked lively in the early stages of this contest but the awkward Relikh kept trying to force the home favourite on to the ropes with a series of combinations and sharp jabs.

The Belarusian continued to taunt the champion as the pair danced their way around the ring in the third, with sporadic flurries of punches.

Chants of ‘Ricky Burns’ throughout the arena told the story that the crowd’s man looked off the pace, and he responded with a straight right near the end of the fourth that signalled he was not content to try and outlast an opponent that hadn’t gone the distance since 2012.

Burns soon followed this up in the fifth with a bruising left hook that had Relikh rocking and the crowd on their feet before a combination in a tight sixth did likewise.

There was nothing between the two as round seven drifted by, but it was in the eighth that Burns came out roaring. A quick combo finished off with a fierce right had the Belarusian’s face bruised, while Burns went on to land a further two hits on his spooked opponent.

The three-weight world champion had regained control of the bout as his guile and experience began to tell. It still didn’t stop the slippery Relikh bursting with an uncontrolled attack in the 10th to slowed Burns’ momentum before a pounding left hook threatened to halt it altogether as the Scot hit the ropes.

Relikh continued his onslaught as Burns began to fade. The Scot knew he had to pull something out the bag and his late barrage saw him land a series of hits before he stumbled to the deck.

Instead, it went to a points score that saw Burns prevail as the judges scored 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.