Ricky Burns 'can be better than Harrison'

Nelson assisted Harrison's father, Peter Harrison, in training the former two-time WBO world featherweight champion during his glory years.

He is now preparing Burns for his WBO World super-featherweight title fight against undefeated Puerto Rican Roman Martinez at the Kelvin Hall on 4 September and has been mightily impressed by the Coatbridge fighter.

"Ricky has got so much talent, it's unbelievable," said Nelson. "Harrison was a fantastic fighter, but from what I have seen of Ricky, he can be better. We've just had some sparring in Manchester and Ricky was brilliant. He's in the best shape of his career and I'm so excited about the Martinez fight.

"Ricky has taken a while to find his stride as a professional, but in the last 18 months he has improved every day in the gym. Obviously Harrison was the most successful Scottish boxer of recent years, and Ricky will have to go some to match his achievements. But I really believe he has what it takes to win this fight against Martinez and then defend his belt against anyone."

Burn has won 28 of his 26 professional contests, his only setbacks were a points defeat to Edinburgh's Alex Arthur in 2006 when he was still a 12-fight novice, and an unlucky British title points loss to Carl Johanesson in Leeds in 2007. Since then, however, he has gone from strength to strength.

Nelson is also training Commonwealth featherweight champion John Simpson who defends his title against Stephen Smith as main supporting contest on the show.