WBO World Super-Featherweight champion Ricky Burns makes his first title defence in Glasgow on Saturday night. BBC Scotland's Phil Goodlad has followed his preparations ahead of the big night.
"I'm getting prepared to fight."
It's what Ricky Burns has been telling himself every morning when the alarm goes off for the last nine weeks.
The WBO super-flyweight champion is of course no stranger to training. The 27-year-old has prepared for many a night in the ring.
But this is different. He is training as world champion, training to defend his title for the first time.
"As long as I take into the ring what we've been doing in training then I'm going to have a long reign as world champion," he confidently predicts.
And the training is relentless. "He'll do 12 minutes of shadow boxing to warm the body up" explains Burns trainer Billy Nelson, "then 10 rounds of punching be it sparring, bag or pad work. He'll then do a huge circuit before skipping in a very warm gym."
But that is only the half of it. Evening brings an hour-long run before a conditioning session in the gym. Burns then goes home to prepare the body for doing it all again come the morning. "I enjoy the training," he says. "The dieting though is the worst part."
"I get a bit embarrassed with all this."
Ricky Burns has a problem as world champion: the limelight his status attracts.
Since winning the title three months ago the man from Coatbridge has been thrust into the media world, with regular guest appearances at functions and has even had a whisky and a sausage named after him!
Viking warrior ready to hit Scotland
"I just feel a wee bit out of place with all this" he confides. "I like the quiet life and things getting back to normal after a fight."
To cling on to some scrap of normality Burns has kept his part-time job in a local sports shop. That's right - the WBO super-featherweight champion serves customers at the weekends.
"The week after the world title fight I was straight back into work," he revealed. "It gives me something to do after training and I enjoy it."
"Ricky Burns is an exceptional fighter"
Since he stunned the boxing world by dethroning Roman Martinez back in September some of the sports' big names have taken an interest in Burns.
One of them is Barry McGuigan. "To say he is one of the best fighters in the world is extraordinary and he's getting better," the former world featherweight champion told BBC Scotland.
"He will encourage thousands of young kids to take up boxing."
As usual, such praise seems painful for Burns. "I don't look at it like that," is his response to the praise from McGuigan. "I have a job to do (in the ring) and I just concentrate on that."
Over 4,000 fans will watch him go about his job at Glasgow's Braehead Areana. Lot's more around the UK on TV.
In a sport full of arrogance and misplaced bravado how refreshing it is to have Ricky Burns - the part-time Scottish shop worker, who on his days off is a boxing world champion.
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