TONY Sims refers to his gym in Brentwood, Essex, as the "factory". One of the nerve centres of Matchroom Sport's boxing operation, this production line for some of the best talents Britain has to offer is where Ricky Burns spends pretty much every waking hour for the 12 weeks leading up to each of his fights - and sometimes more besides. Scotland's first three weight world champion even has the option of grabbing 40 winks in the lounge next door between sessions if required.

While he squeezes in trips to Coatbridge every second weekend to catch up with his wife Amanda and son Leon, his surrogate second family becomes sparring partners and stablemates such as O'Hara Davies, Conor Benn and Anthony Joshua - even if Sims oversees a facility where socialising is generally kept to a minimum. Boxing is a blue collar business down here, the focus squarely on churning out a never-ending conveyor belt of champions.

"It is a big factory, the matchroom gym," said Sims. "There is one world class fighter after another down here, so much so that no-one takes any notice. It isn't one of those gyms where you go in and say 'oh alright, how you doing'. They go in there, they do their work and then they conk out."

Boxing courses through Sims' veins. His brother Peter, also a trainer, is based nearby, where he works with Charlie Flynn among others. His own son Charlie had a stint on TV reality show The Only Way is Essex but now devotes himself to boxing management.

In Burns' corner at the request of former trainer Billy Nelson since his world title bout against Terence Crawford at the SECC in March 2014, Sims inherited the Scot soon afterwards when he was at his lowest ebb, an uncertain figure who appeared distracted by a lengthy legal wrangle with his former manager Frank Warren which left him bankrupt.

While he is at pains to point out that Nelson was doing nothing wrong, Burns has been remade in Essex, his confidence rebuilt after some punishing defeats, his transition from lightweight to light welterweight now complete. Should he take care of mandatory challenger Kiryl Relikh of Belarus at the SSE Hydro on Friday night then that will be eight successful defences in all. It will unlock the key to future riches, with Adrien Broner likely to confirm a money-spinning offer there and then which would take the Scot to Las Vegas in December.

Burns must earn his happy ending though. Mandatory challenger Relikh has a perfect 21 wins on his resume, with 19 knockouts. If his manager and trainer Ricky Hatton is to be believed, it is he who will be walking out of the Hydro on Friday night with the belt.

There is a cockiness about the Relikh camp, but a bit like Italy's Michele di Rocco in May, Sims feels the Belarusian's lack of exposure to fighters at this level will prove all important when it comes to withstanding the atmospheric ampitheatre which is the Hydro.

"I have been all round the world with boxing and there is no crowd like a Scottish crowd," said Sims. "It makes your hair on the back of your neck stand up. Relikh has had a lot of amateur fights as well so he is a bit of an unknown quantity but that kid [Di Rocco] had never fought at world level and neither has this kid. He won't realise that till he gets in the ring on the night. That is when he will realise what world class fighters are all about."

Burns is not a great one for studying footage of his opponents, preferring to suss them out in the ring. This is convenient as Sims has found footage difficult to come by.

"He [Relikh] looks a handful," Sims said. "Obviously he can punch. You don't knock 19 out of 21 fights if you can't punch. But he hasn't boxed anyone. The people he has been flattening are nowhere near world class. It is hard to say whether he is a good fighter or not because he hasn't boxed anybody. I have seen things that I we can work on. But only a couple of fights are on YouTube, he hasn't been televised. It is a little bit odd how he jumps to No 1 mandatory challenger status. But he has got the mandatory spot and Ricky has got to get that out of the way."

With Joe Ham on the bill, as he wins friends and admirers in the pro game, and the injured Flynn learning his trade from his brother, Sims feels Scottish boxing in general needs Ricky Burns to keep winning.

"That is what we need, we need that second coming of the Scottish fighters because once Ricky is finished, if you haven't got anything coming through, then we won't be able to put big fights on up there," said Sims. "I think Ricky will win, I think he will be too experienced for him, too good for him, but you never know in this game."