Alex Arthur

Alex Arthur, MBE (born 26 June 1978) is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. He held the WBO and WBO interim super featherweight titles in 2007. At regional level, he held the British super featherweight title twice between 2002 and 2006, and the Commonwealth and EBU European super featherweight title from 2005 to 2006.

For other people named Alexander Arthur, see Alexander Arthur (disambiguation).

Alex Arthur
Arthur in 2012
Statistics
Nickname(s)Amazing
Weight(s)Super featherweight
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Reach69 in (175 cm)
Born (1978-06-26) 26 June 1978
Edinburgh, Scotland
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights34
Wins31
Wins by KO21
Losses3

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.[1]

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.[2]

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.".[2][3]

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.[4][5][6]

Gomez proved his critics wrong when on the night of the fight Gomez arrived in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire.[5][7] Eventually, Gomez won this bad tempered contested fight with an explosive knock out of Arthur in the fifth round.[8] 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".[9]

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.[10]

European Champion

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.[11] He put all three of them on the line in his next fight against fellow Scot Ricky Burns winning another 12 round decision.[12] 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. 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.[13]

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 recognised as the organisation's world champion.[14]

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",[15] Other observers however thought that the decision was fair and that Cook fully deserved his win. .[16] [17]

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.[18]

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
Professional record summary
34 fights 31 wins 3 losses
By knockout 21 1
By decision 10 2
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
34 Win 31–3 Michael Frontin PTS 8 14 Apr 2012 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland
33 Win 30–3 Aleksander Vakhtangashvili TKO 4 (10) 27 Aug 2011 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland
32 Win 29–3 Jay Morris PTS 8 4 Dec 2010 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland
31 Win 28–3 Peter McDonagh PTS 8 4 Sep 2010 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
30 Loss 27–3 Nigel Wright PTS 8 5 Dec 2009 Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England
29 Win 27–2 Mohamed Benbiou TKO 1 (8) 19 Jun 2009 Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
28 Loss 26–2 Nicky Cook UD 12 6 Sep 2008 M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England Lost WBO super featherweight title
27 Win 26–1 Stephen Foster UD 12 15 Dec 2007 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Retained WBO interim super featherweight title
26 Win 25–1 Koba Gogoladze TKO 10 (12) 21 Jul 2007 International Arena, Cardiff, Wales Won WBO interim super featherweight title
25 Win 24–1 Sergio Palomo TKO 5 (12) 4 Nov 2006 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Retained EBU European super featherweight title
24 Win 23–1 Sergey Gulyakevich TD 7 (12) 29 Apr 2006 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Retained EBU European super featherweight title
23 Win 22–1 Ricky Burns UD 12 18 Feb 2006 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Retained British, Commonwealth, and EBU European super featherweight titles
22 Win 21–1 Boris Sinitsin UD 12 23 Jul 2005 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Won EBU European super featherweight title
21 Win 20–1 Craig Docherty KO 9 (12) 8 Apr 2005 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Won Commonwealth and vacant British super featherweight titles
20 Win 19–1 Nazareno Gaston Ruiz UD 12 3 Dec 2004 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Retained IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
19 Win 18–1 Eric Odumase RTD 6 (12) 22 Oct 2004 Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh, Scotland Retained IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
18 Win 17–1 Michael Kizza KO 1 (12) 27 Mar 2004 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Won vacant IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
17 Loss 16–1 Michael Gomez TKO 5 (12) 25 Oct 2003 Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland Lost British and WBA Inter-Continental super featherweight titles
16 Win 16–0 Willie Limond TKO 8 (12) 12 Jul 2003 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Retained British super featherweight title
15 Win 15–0 Patrick Malinga TKO 6 (12) 22 Mar 2003 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental super featherweight title
14 Win 14–0 Carl Greaves TKO 6 (12) 14 Dec 2002 Telewest Arena, Newcastle, England Retained British super featherweight title
13 Win 13–0 Steven Conway KO 4 (12) 19 Oct 2002 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Won vacant British super featherweight title
12 Win 12–0 Pavel Patipko KO 1 (6) 17 Aug 2002 Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales
11 Win 11–0 Nikolay Eremeev RTD 5 (12) 8 Jun 2002 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title
10 Win 10–0 Dariusz Snarski TKO 10 (12) 11 Mar 2002 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Won IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
9 Win 9–0 Wladimir Borov TKO 2 (8) 19 Jan 2002 York Hall, London, England
8 Win 8–0 Laszlo Bognar TKO 3 (8) 17 Nov 2001 Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
7 Win 7–0 Alexey Slyauchin TKO 1 (6) 27 Oct 2001 M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
6 Win 6–0 Dmitry Gorodetsky TKO 1 (4) 15 Sept 2001 M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
5 Win 5–0 Rakhim Mingaleyev PTS 4 21 Jul 2001 Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, England
4 Win 4–0 Dafydd Carlin PTS 4 28 Apr 2001 International Arena, Cardiff, Wales
3 Win 3–0 Woody Greenway RTD 2 (4) 26 Mar 2001 Wembley Conference Centre, London, England
2 Win 2–0 Eddie Nevins TKO 1 (4) 10 Feb 2001 Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
1 Win 1–0 Richmond Asante TKO 1 (4) 25 Nov 2000 Wythenshawe Forum, Manchester, England

References
  1. Boxing results from 25 November 2000
  2. "AMAZING ALL-ROUND". Boxing Monthly. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  3. "Arthur shrugs off trainer blow". BBC. 15 October 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  4. "Star Profiles – Alex Arthur". ITV. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  5. Julian Wilson. "Boxer of the week – Michael Gomez". Britishboxing.net. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  6. Elliot Worsell. "Britain's most exciting fighters". SecondsOut.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  7. Stephen Jones. "Amazing Fighters, Amazing Fight". Braggingrightscorner.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  8. BoxingTalk
  9. K MacInnes. "This England". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
  10. Arthur wins battle of the Scottish Super Featherweights
  11. Arthur crowned European Champion
  12. BBC Sport | Arthur beats Burns in bruising defence
  13. Eastside Boxing | Arthur retains title in fight of the year contender
  14. The Scotsman | Arthur awarded belt as Guzman moves up in weight
  15. BBC Sport | Arthur fury at judges decision
  16. BBC Sport | Impressive Cook outclasses Arthur
  17. Daily Record | Alex Arthur admits defeat against Nicky Cook
  18. "No. 60173". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 2012. p. 13.
Achievements
Vacant
Title last held by
Michael Gomez		 British Junior Lightweight Champion
19 October 2002 – 25 October 2003		 Succeeded by
Michael Gomez
Preceded by
Craig Docherty		 Commonwealth Junior Lightweight Champion
8 April 2005 – 21 July 2007
Vacated		 Vacant
Title next held by
Kevin Mitchell
New title WBO Super Featherweight Champion
Interim title
21 July 2007 – 14 May 2008
Promoted		 Vacant
Title next held by
Orlando Salido
Preceded by
Joan Guzmán
Vacated		 WBO Super Featherweight Champion
14 May 2008 – 9 September 2008		 Succeeded by
Nicky Cook


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