For the next eight years Bursak would remain undefeated, scoring wins over perennial middleweight contender Brian Vera[1] and future world champion Giovanni De Carolis.
Bursak fought for his first major world championship—the vacant WBO interim title—against Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam on 4 May 2012, but lost via wide unanimous decision (UD).
[2] On 2 February 2013, Bursak stopped Julien Marie Sainte in three rounds to become the European middleweight champion.
[5] 2014 would be less successful for Bursak: on 1 February he lost a twelve-round UD to Jarrod Fletcher,[6] which was followed by another UD loss to Martin Murray on 21 June;[7] in the latter fight, the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title was on the line.
A second opportunity for Bursak to win a world championship—the vacant IBO super-middleweight title–came on 27 June 2015, against Zac Dunn.