[1][2][3][4] Burns first fight as a professional was a four-round victory in October 2001 over Woody Greenaway at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland.

On 12 December 2004, following a string of seven wins over opponents including Jeff Thomas, Ernie Smith and Daniel Thorpe he was matched against fellow unbeaten prospect Colin Bain.

The fight, at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow, resulted in a first career defeat for Bain as Burns won over the six round distance.

For Burns, the win set him up for a journey south of the border to face the unbeaten British lightweight champion Graham Earl in a non-title fight.

[5] The win against Earl meant he would land a shot at the big time when in February 2006, he took on reigning British, Commonwealth and European champion Alex Arthur.

[6] Burns next had a crack at the British title almost exactly a year later when in February 2007, he met reigning champion Carl Johanneson at the Town Hall in Leeds.

Burns had worked with Rab Bannan at the Barn Boxing Club for over 14 years, but the Johanneson defeat prompted a need for a change of direction.

A ten-round win over Romanian Gheorghe Ghiompirica at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow gave him the lightly regarded British International Masters belt.

Burns however was too much and his superior fitness levels showed as the referee stopped the contest in the seventh round, handing victory to the Scotsman.

[14] On 20 June 2009, Burns made perhaps the toughest defence of his title yet with a hard-fought 12 round win over Northern Ireland's Kevin O'Hara,[15] with the assistance of the highly experienced trainer Billy Nelson and his Fighting Scots Gym in Stepps.

[16] Finally after almost a year of frustration Burns re-entered the ring on 15 May 2010, on the undercard of Kevin Mitchell's world title shot against Michael Katsidis at the Boleyn Ground.

[17] The WBO super-featherweight title showdown between Burns and Roman Martinez was eventually confirmed on 24 June 2010 and scheduled to take place at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on 4 September.

[18] Finally on 4 September, Burns entered the ring at Kelvin Hall to face the WBO's unbeaten reigning world champion Roman Martinez.

Martinez had held the title for over a year winning it from Englishman Nicky Cook and defending twice against Colombian Feider Viloria and Argentinian Gonzalo Munguia.

The fight, at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, resulted in another unanimous points win for Burns with the Scotsman also scoring a knockdown in the first round.

His opponent the Ghanaian boxer Joseph Laryea had won the WBO Inter-Continental title win a victory over Scotsman Paul Appleby on the same night that Burns beat Evenson.

But you just fought four times and defended this title", Broner further said, "But everyone knows boxing is a game where you can duck fighters ... and I guess he felt like running away was best for his career.

On 5 November 2011, Burns took on Katsidis for the WBO interim lightweight championship and despite being the slight underdog went on to win the fight by unanimous decision.

In front of a sold out Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre Burns turned in a career best performance to defeat Mitchell via fourth-round TKO.

[37] With promoter Frank Warren unable to secure an opponent for a rescheduled date of 26 January 2013, Burns declined the opportunity of an exhibition bout, deciding instead to take a long rest between fights.

[49] Crawford defeated Burns by unanimous decision, boxing well on the outside and picking his shots to win the WBO lightweight title.

[54] After the loss to Zlatičanin on 27 June 2014, Burns promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed on 4 July 2014 that he would have a "Make or Break" 10 round fight in a move to the light-welterweight division.

[56][57] In a fight that saw both men land clean hard punches throughout was over shadowed by disgraceful refereeing as 2 points were deducted from Burns for holding and for repeatedly moving both boxers hands whilst they were in a dominant position within the clinch.

It was confirmed on 15 March 2016 that Burns would fight Italian boxer Michele di Rocco for the vacant WBA (Regular) light-welterweight title at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on 28 May 2016.

[60] Burns dominated from start to finish with his jab and right cross, knocking his opponent down on the third and stopping him in the eighth in front of a packed crowd.

[61] WBA ordered Burns to defend his Regular title against their Inter-Continental champion Kiryl Relikh (21–0, 19 KOs) of Belarus.

[64] Some pundits ringside including Relikh's trainer Ricky Hatton believed the wide scoring was harsh due to the fact there was constant back and forth action.

[77][78] On 7 July 2017, STV news reported there was talks between Burns and fellow Brit Anthony Crolla (31–6–3, 13 KOs) about a potential all-British fight towards the end of 2017.

[82][83] On 7 August 2017, it was confirmed by Eddie Hearn that a deal had been reached between Crolla and Burns for a fight to take place at lightweight on 7 October, live on Sky Sports.

[89][90] On 26 May 2018, Burns's 50th professional fight was announced to take place at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on 16 June on a card co-headlined by Josh Kelly and Lewis Ritson.