Alex Arthur


Alex Arthur, 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.

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.
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

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

Comeback

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.

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. He put all three of them on the line in his next fight against fellow Scot Ricky Burns winning another 12 round decision. 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.
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.
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", Other observers however thought that the decision was fair and that Cook fully deserved his win..

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 in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to boxing.

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

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
34 Win31–3 Michael FrontinPTS814 Apr 2012
33 Win30–3 Aleksander VakhtangashviliTKO4 27 Aug 2011
32 Win29–3 Jay MorrisPTS84 Dec 2010
31 Win28–3 Peter McDonaghPTS84 Sep 2010
30Loss27–3 Nigel WrightPTS85 Dec 2009
29 Win27–2 Mohamed BenbiouTKO1 19 Jun 2009
28Loss26–2 Nicky CookUD126 Sep 2008Lost WBO super featherweight title
27 Win26–1 Stephen FosterUD1215 Dec 2007Retained WBO interim super featherweight title
26 Win25–1 Koba GogoladzeTKO10 21 Jul 2007International Arena, Cardiff, Wales.png" />Won WBO interim super featherweight title
25 Win24–1 Sergio PalomoTKO5 4 Nov 2006Retained EBU European super featherweight title
24 Win23–1 Sergey GulyakevichTD7 29 Apr 2006Retained EBU European super featherweight title
23 Win22–1 Ricky BurnsUD1218 Feb 2006Retained British, Commonwealth, and EBU European super featherweight titles
22 Win21–1 Boris SinitsinUD1223 Jul 2005Won EBU European super featherweight title
21 Win20–1 Craig DochertyKO9 8 Apr 2005Won Commonwealth and vacant British super featherweight titles
20 Win19–1 Nazareno Gaston RuizUD123 Dec 2004Retained IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
19 Win18–1 Eric OdumaseRTD6 22 Oct 2004Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh, Scotland.png" />Retained IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
18 Win17–1 Michael KizzaKO1 27 Mar 2004Won vacant IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
17 Loss16–1 Michael GomezTKO5 25 Oct 2003Lost British and WBA Inter-Continental super featherweight titles
16 Win16–0 Willie LimondTKO8 12 Jul 2003Retained British super featherweight title
15 Win15–0 Patrick MalingaTKO6 22 Mar 2003Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental super featherweight title
14 Win14–0 Carl GreavesTKO6 14 Dec 2002Telewest Arena, Newcastle, England.png" />Retained British super featherweight title
13 Win13–0 Steven ConwayKO4 19 Oct 2002Won vacant British super featherweight title
12 Win12–0 Pavel PatipkoKO1 17 Aug 2002Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales.png" />
11 Win11–0 Nikolay EremeevRTD5 8 Jun 2002Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title
10 Win10–0 Dariusz SnarskiTKO10 11 Mar 2002Won IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title
9 Win9–0 Wladimir BorovTKO2 19 Jan 2002York Hall, London, England.png" />
8 Win8–0 Laszlo BognarTKO3 17 Nov 2001
7 Win7–0 Alexey SlyauchinTKO1 27 Oct 2001
6 Win6–0 Dmitry GorodetskyTKO1 15 Sept 2001
5 Win5–0 Rakhim MingaleyevPTS421 Jul 2001Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, England.png" />
4 Win4–0 Dafydd CarlinPTS428 Apr 2001
3 Win3–0 Woody GreenwayRTD2 26 Mar 2001Wembley Conference Centre, London, England.png" />
2 Win2–0 Eddie NevinsTKO1 10 Feb 2001Widnes, England.png" />
1 Win1–0 Richmond AsanteTKO1 25 Nov 2000