By Terence Dooley

Ricky Burns (40-5-1, 14 early) made history by winning a third world title courtesy of a dominant eighth-round stoppage win over Michele Di Rocco (40-2-1, 18 stoppages) at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro arena on Saturday night.

The 33-year-old put a barren spell behind him to add the vacant WBA World light-welterweight title to his WBO titles at Super featherweight and lightweight, making him Scotland's first-ever three-weight world titlist.

The win caps an emotional journey for Burns, who was widely written off following back-to-back losses to Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin in 2014.  However, he performed well when losing narrowly to Omar Figueroa Junior in America last year then a brace of wins over Prince Ofotsu (TKO 5) and Josh King (KO 11) eased him back into contention.

“Honestly, when that fight was stopped I could feel myself welling up,” he said when speaking to Sky Sports about the win.  “My team knew what this meant to me.  After everything that's happened, Matchroom and especially Eddie Hearn showed faith in me and delivered this fight—and it couldn't have been any bigger.  I want to say thanks to all my team and everybody for supporting me in the build-up to this fight.

He added: “I am so happy with the performance.  Who would have thought after what has happened in the past two years that I'd be sitting here as a world champion again.  But I couldn't believe how easy it was without going into the second phase of my game plan.  However, for me it's just another belt.  Now I want to fight the top names in the biggest fights Eddie can deliver, whether that's in Glasgow or wherever.  I'll fight anybody.  It doesn't bother me who or where.”

"There is some big fights and some big names out there for me. I have said to Eddie that I want to fight the top names. I do super-lightweight comfortably but lightweight is still an option.

"At super-lightweight, you have Terence Crawford, he is fighting Viktor Postol in a unification. I would fight him again if it came down to it. Why not? And there are other big fights out there. I fought for this title because Adrien Broner didn't make the weight. If he gets his finger out, that fight is an option as well."

Hearn, though, believes that Burns’s days on the road are over now they have the WBA belt as a lure for potential opponents.  The promoter has promised Scottish fans some big nights of boxing, he hopes to bring more memorable occasions to the Hydro.

"That was the loudest and best atmosphere I've experienced for a long time, we want to come back here,” he declared when reflecting on a historic night.

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