Alex Arthur

Alex Arthur
Arthur in 2012
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Amazing
Rated at	Light welterweight Super featherweight
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Born	26 June 1978 Edinburgh, Scotland
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	34
Wins	31
Wins by KO	21
Losses	3

Alex Arthur, MBE (born 26 June 1978) is a Scottish former professional boxer. He is a former British, Commonwealth, European and WBO super featherweight champion.^[1] On 26 June 2013, on his 35th birthday and following a twelve-year career, Arthur officially retired from boxing.^[2]

Early professional career

Arthur had his first professional contest in November 2000 when he defeated fellow debutant Richmond Asante at the Wythenshawe forum in Manchester. Also on the card that day were fighters of the quality of Anthony Farnell, Junior Witter, Matthew Hatton, Michael Jennings and Jamie Moore.^[3]

After winning 11 fights in a row and picking up a couple of fringe titles on the way, Arthur managed to get a crack at the vacant British Super Featherweight title when he challenged Dewsbury's Steven Conway at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on 19 October 2002. The win established Arthur as a force on the domestic scene and he followed up the victory with two defences against Carl Greaves and fellow Scot Willie Limond. One more victory would have given him the Lonsdale belt for keeps and that was when the undefeated prospect with a record of 16-0 ran into Longford's Michael Gomez.

Michael Gomez fight

Michael Gomez fought Arthur for the British and WBA International super featherweight titles in front of a sold out Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland in October 2003. This was the first professional boxing card in the city for almost 20 years.^[4]

A war of words was waged between the two fighters prior to the fight, Arthur had stirred up the animosity between the pair stating in an interview that Gomez "gets involved in wars with journeymen" and that "looking deep into Gomez's eyes at the press conference, I’m not sure even he believes he can win. He’ll be so fired up I expect it’ll take me eight or nine rounds but, if his resistance has gone as people are saying, it could be a lot sooner" and "I see about 20 ways to beat him. I'm just looking forward to shutting him up.".^[4][5]

Arthur, who was looking to retain the Lonsdale Belt, was seen as a rising star in British boxing and was being groomed to be a future world champion. Arthur was a strong favourite to defeat Gomez and this fight was seen as a stepping stone against a Gomez how had been through too many battles and abused his body too much.^[6][7][8]

Gomez proved his critics wrong when on the night of the fight Gomez arrived in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire.^[7][9] Eventually, Gomez won this bad tempered contested fight with an explosive knock out of Arthur in the fifth round.^[10] Arthur's performance in the early rounds and his resilience before the KO saw the bout hailed as one of the best fights in Britain for a decade. Boxing promoter Frank Warren called the fight "the greatest contest seen on these shores since Nigel Benn beat Gerald McClellan in 1995".^[11]

Comeback

Alex Arthur in 2008

He made his comeback the next year on 27 March 2004 by stopping Michael Kizza in the first round for the IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title. He made two defences of that fringe title before lining himself up for a shot at Commonwealth Super-Featherweight champion Craig Docherty. To make matters more interesting the British title was now vacant again meaning that the Docherty fight would be for the British and Commonwealth Super-Featherweight titles. The fight took place at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh and ended with Arthur knocking Docherty out in the 9th round. Arthur was once again a force to be reckoned with.^[12]

European Champion

In order to fully seal his comeback Arthur's next fight was against the reigning European champion at super feather Boris Sinitsin. He managed to defeat the experienced Russian with a wide 12 round decision and so held the British, Commonwealth and European title belts at the same time.^[13] He put all three of them on the line in his next fight against fellow Scot Ricky Burns winning another 12 round decision.^[14] It was however the only time he would defend all three at once, his next two fights saw him only defend the European title against mandatory challenger Sergey Gulyakevich and Spain's Sergio Palomo.

WBO Champion

On 21 July 2007 he stopped Koba Gogoladze in the tenth round to win the interim WBO super-featherweight title recognised as one of the 4 main 'World' belts. He made his first defence on 15 December 2007 against fellow Brit Steve Foster Jr. In what was supposed to be an easy tune up fight, Arthur struggled to win a close unanimous decision. It was a terrible start from the champion, for the first four rounds he was getting beaten to the punch and taking heavy blows from Foster. He regained his composure in the middle rounds and even knocked down his opponent in the 9th with a body shot. However two rounds later in round 11 Arthur got floored himself after taking a right hand that knocked him straight through the ropes. He managed to regain his composure and won a close decision.^[15]

Following the Foster win Arthur geared himself up to take on Dominican Joan Guzmán who held the full version of the title. However, Guzmán decided that he wanted to move up a weight division and chose not to compete against Arthur. This decision by Guzmán meant that the interim titleholder was now recognized as the organization's world champion.^[16]

Arthur however surrendered the title in his very next fight, losing a unanimous points decision to England's Nicky Cook at the MEN Arena in Manchester on 9 September 2008. Arthur claimed that he had been "robbed" he also added "It was three English judges - in England. A fighter knows in his heart if he has won or lost a fight and I really thought I had won",^[17] Other observers however thought that the decision was fair and that Cook fully deserved his win. .^{[18] [19]}

Second comeback

Since losing to Nicky Cook in 2008 Arthur went on to win against Mohamed Benbiou on 19 June 2009 via TKO in Round 1 at the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow, Arthur then lost on points to Nigel Wright on 5 December 2009 at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle. In 2010 Arthur had 2 back to back wins against Peter McDonagh on 4 September 2010 and Jay Morris on 4 December 2010 both in Glasgow.

Arthur was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to boxing.^[20]

Amazing Alex Arthur Promotions and Retirement

In 2011 Arthur went into promoting with his own AAA Promotions. His first event took place at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh on 27 August 2011 where Arthur fought Aleksander Vakhtangashvili and won via TKO in the fourth round. On 14 April 2012 AAA Promotions staged their second and final event again at the Meadowbank Stadium where Arthur faced Michael Frontin and won via points after 8 rounds.

On 26 June 2013 Arthur officially retired from boxing after 14 months without a fight.

Professional boxing record

References

1. Boxrec profile boxrec.com
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/23060678
3. Boxing results from 25 November 2000
4. "AMAZING ALL-ROUND". Boxing Monthly. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
5. "Arthur shrugs off trainer blow". BBC. 15 October 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
6. "Star Profiles - Alex Arthur". ITV. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
7. Julian Wilson. "Boxer of the week - Michael Gomez". Britishboxing.net. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
8. Elliot Worsell. "Britain's most exciting fighters". SecondsOut.com. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
9. Stephen Jones. "Amazing Fighters, Amazing Fight". Braggingrightscorner.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
10. BoxingTalk
11. K MacInnes. "This England". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
12. Arthur wins battle of the Scottish Super Featherweights
13. Arthur crowned European Champion
14. BBC Sport | Arthur beats Burns in bruising defence
15. Eastside Boxing | Arthur retains title in fight of the year contender
16. The Scotsman | Arthur awarded belt as Guzman moves up in weight
17. BBC Sport | Arthur fury at judges decision
18. BBC Sport | Impressive Cook outclasses Arthur
19. Daily Record | Alex Arthur admits defeat against Nicky Cook
20. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60173. p. 13. 16 June 2012.

External links

• Alex Arthur Promotions
• Alex Arthur Twitter Page
• Alex Arthur Facebook Page
• BoxRec Alex Arthur Boxer - Global ID 32930
• BoxRec Amazing Alex Arthur Promotions - Global ID 575672