Born in Newcastle upon Tyne and based in Manchester, Burton was successful as an amateur, winning the ABA senior middleweight title in 2009, beating Kirk Garvey in the final.

[2] Trained by Joe Gallagher, he had his first professional fight in March 2012 at super middleweight, a first round stoppage of Viktor Tzonev.

[3][4] After winning his first 14 fights, he faced the also undefeated Miles Shinkwin on 27 February 2016 at the Manchester Arena for the British light heavyweight title vacated by Bob Ajisafe.

[5] On 25 June 2021, Burton beat Liam Conroy by knockout in the 6th round.

[6] On 20 November 2021, Burton fought Dan Azeez for the vacant British light heavyweight title.