Ricky Burns' American dream of a money-spinning Las Vegas showdown with Adrien Broner was alive and kicking last night after he staged a successful first defence of his WBA world super lightweight title agianst Kiryl Relikh of Belarus, writes Stewart Fisher.

The 33-year-old from Coatbridge, who became Scotland's first-ever three-weight world champion when he stopped Michele di Rocco of Italy in May, retained his title by a unanimous points decision but not before the 26-year-old mandatory challenger from Minsk, with fight legend Ricky Hatton in his corner, had provided the sternest of examinations.

The judges scored the fight 118-110, 116-112, 116-112 in the Scot's favour but that seemed a rather wide margin for a seesawing contest where Burns had to count on all his experience to prevail. There was no sign of Broner courtside, despite claims that the US boxing superstar was travelling to Glasgow to check out the Scot in person, with a deal agreed in principle for a fight in the States in December.

"He caught me with a few body shots," said Burns. "But 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. He gave it a right good go, I said I was expecting a hard 12 rounds and that is what I got tonight."

Relikh, with 19 knockouts on his perfect 21 wins to date, had predicted he would knock his man out in the sixth round. It was quite a claim as Burns has still never been stopped but those words didn't seem like an idle boast as the Eastern European bossed the early stages.

The tide of this fight turned, though, around the fourth or fifth round, and while Burns was fighting for his life in the 10th and the 11th, the Scot finished the fight on the front foot and was given the benefit of any doubt going.