RICKY BURNS breathed a sigh of relief after his third defence of the WBO lightweight title – and keeping his world championship unification dream alive.

After enduring a torrid opening seven rounds, in which he managed to win one session at best, the Scot turned his fight with big-hitting Puerto Rican Jose Gonzalez around with a tremendous show of courage.

With Gonzalez leading on all three judges' cards by three rounds, but running out of gas, the challenger quit on his stool before the start of the tenth round citing a broken left hand. But it looked like the 29-year-old had his heart broken by Burns' refusal to admit defeat in a seventh round in which Gonzalez had thrown the kitchen sink at him.

Now a relieved Burns can look forward to a unification fight with either WBA ruler Richard Abril or IBF kingpin Miguel Vazquez, with promoter Eddie Hearn determined to bring either rival champ to Glasgow.

Burns said: "I am relieved to have come through. I have to be honest and admit that Gonzalez hurt me in the seventh round and I could see the referee taking a look to see if I was all right.

"But I always train hard and I could see how much he had put into that round and by the end of the eighth I could feel how tired he was.

"I knew I was behind on the judges' cards' but I train for the championship distance and' by the end of the ninth' I felt like I had control of the fight and was going to go on and win it. But credit to Gonzalez, he is a class fighter and hits harder than anyone I have ever fought.

"I am just delighted to still be champion and be able to look forward to hopefully a unification fight in September."

Make no mistake, there were two factors in this fight that combined to almost cause a catastrophic defeat for the champion. He may have denied it at the post-fight press conference, but ring rust was a huge issue for Burns.

The 30-year-old had been out of the square ring for eight months during a period in which he trained but failed to fight three different opponents.

While the champion may have been in training for most of that period of time, the chopping and changing for three different styles and lack of real time fight action, combined to produce a performance that was comparable in levels to his first title defence against Andreas Evensen in December 2010.

The second factor was just how good Gonzalez was. He boxed on the counter, effortlessly employing a variety of punches, while repeatedly switch-hitting to disrupt the champion's rhythm, as Gonzalez, at times, threatened to pick the brave Burns apart.

While the Scot's usual trusty range-finder jab fell repeatedly short, the challenger landed at will with endless variety and thumping power.

Yet, Burns prevailed and lives to fight another day and for that he has to thank his frightening inner strength and will to succeed, his granite jaw, and perhaps, his far greater experience at the business end of championship fights.

Now Hearn is plotting the future.

He revealed: "We will be back in Glasgow in September and Vazquez is still the fight we would like to make. Ricky showed he has the heart of a lion and that is what got him through this."