Coatbridge boxer Ricky Burns has set his sights on earning another world title shot, after it was announced that he will fight Englishman Anthony Crolla in a lightweight contest at the Manchester Arena on 7th October.

It will be the first outing for Burns since he lost his WBA super-lightweight title to Julius Indongo at the Hydro in April, while Crolla comes into the bout off of consecutive defeats at the hands of Jorge Linares.

It is believed that Burns also had the option of taking on compatriot Josh Taylor in a Scottish super-fight at 10 stone, but he said: "I've been making 140lbs too easily and I've had enough notice for this fight.

"Although those last pounds will always be tricky I'm happy to be back down at 135lbs.

"I'm always saying to Tony (Sims, his trainer) I've got two or three more years left. At this stage of my career I don't see the point in getting an easy win. I'd rather go in with a big name.

"If I win, I'm going to progress and hopefully get another title shot."

Burns has huge respect for his opponent, and while the fight is critical to the career prospects of both fighters, he doesn’t believe there will be much bad blood outside of the ring.

"When I held world titles at super-featherweight and lightweight, Crolla's name was always mentioned but it never happened,” he said.

"He's a great guy and a great fighter, I don't think you'll get much trash talk in the build-up. The best man will win on the night."

The importance of the match-up hasn’t been lost on Crolla either, who will have home advantage for the fight.

"I'm not going to say the loser has nowhere to go, but it's going to be a tough road back," Crolla said.

"We're both coming off losing our world titles and the incentive is to win the fight and get back in the frame.

"I could have a tune up fight on the undercard of somewhere and an easier opponent to get me back into things and then a big fight after but I'm not interested in that.

"(A fight between us has) nearly happened before a good few times, a few years ago at super-featherweight and again at lightweight.

"It's been talked about for years now. It looked like it wasn't going to happen but it's good now we're finally going to meet."