GLASGOW, Scotland - Ricky Burns earned a unanimous decision against the unbeaten Kiryl Relikh in his first defense of the WBA super-lightweight belt on Friday.

Burns, a three-weight world champion, was backed up by the Belarusian in the first three rounds, and couldn't counter with any effect until the end of the fourth.

It took two big rights in the eighth to take the sting out of Relikh, but Burns still needed to draw on his greater experience to stay on top.

The judges rewarded his resilience with scores of 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112.

Burns, who won the vacant belt in May by knocking out Michele Di Rocco in the same Hydro Arena, improved his record to 41-5-1.

Relikh dropped to 21-1 (19 KO).

"He could whack," Burns said of Relikh. "I know people go on about big punchers, but there were some punches there - I can hardly lift my hands.

"But we stuck to the game plan, we stuck to boxing. The win is the main thing. We move on to the next one."

Burns' promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, is now lining up former four division world champion Adrien Broner for a fight in the United States, with a December date in mind.

"Scotland has had some great nights with Ricky Burns, but now I think it's time to go on the road. The fans here would love Vegas," Hearn said. "Adrien Broner is 100 percent the fight he wants, the fight he's been searching for for many years. The terms are virtually there for that fight."

"We're going to push and try to get it in December if we can. We want to make that Broner fight and then look for the unification fights for Ricky Burns. It's time to go to that next level and roll the dice every time."