ALEX ARTHUR stepped onto the scales brimful of confidence after weighing up opponent Mohamed Benbiou for tonight's clash at Bellahouston.
Arthur tipped the scales at 9st 12lb – the limit for lightweight – at Glasgow's Thistle Hotel yesterday after having seen Benbiou in the flesh for the first time. And it was a pleasing sight as the Frenchman clearly gave away inches to his Edinbur
gh opponent.
Arthur goes into tonight's eight-round clash with his career on the line. He has been told in no uncertain terms that he faces boxing oblivion if he loses, and, after spending nine months in the doldrums after losing his WBO super-featherweight title to Nicky Cook, he is determined to silence the doubters and critics who have been hasty to consign the father of three to the boxing dustbin.
Arthur breezed through the weigh-in and looked in prime condition, which was in sharp contrast to those of us who have seen him looking gaunt after struggling to make the super-featherweight limit of 9st 4lb. He believes he should have stepped up to lightweight long before now and blames the struggles he had making the weight for his defeat against Cook in Manchester.
However, if his demeanour at the weigh-in is anything to go by we can expect Arthur to carry out a clinical job tonight.
"Nobody can really know what a huge boost to my confidence it was today to approach the scales knowing that I would make the weight in a dawdle. But this is the very first time that I've seen Mohammed Benbiou in the flesh and my confidence has jumped another few notches.
"I didn't realise how relatively shorter he is to me which means that I outreach him significantly. So, in addition to my left hooks to the body I will be using my left jab and uppercuts up the middle to try to stop Benbiou in real style.''
Benbiou arrived in Scotland with his own career at the crossroads having lost his last fight to Karim Chakim, the holder of the super-featherweight title in France. So both fighters have plenty at stake.
Arthur added: "My coach and cornerman Terry McCormack, has said that this is a 'twilight or dawn' fight for me, meaning that, by losing then I'd be in the twilight zone of my career with the unattractive choice of fighting journeymen down the bill, something I'm determined that I'll never be reduced to doing.
"In contrast, if I win then, as my manager Frank Warren has confirmed, I will be fast-tracked towards fighting for a world lightweight title.
"That could mean finally fighting the guy who I always thought dodged me at super-featherweight, Domincan Juan Guzman, who vacated the WBO crown that I was given by that body without fighting for it.
"So this, in reality, is no simple supporting eight-round fight. It is for me, a career defining bout that I aim to use to signal that Alex Arthur – and the real Alex Arthur, not the weight-wasted husk who lost to Nicky Cook – is very much back in business in world terms.''
Arthur also has another incentive – to silence his critics.
"I haven't said this before, but I was cut to the quick and really hurt by certain people who crowed that I was really just a 'cheese' world champion who had lost his WBO title at the very first defence after having it handed to me, the jibe was that I'd go into the boxing record books as the only Scottish world champion to have lost his world crown in his first defence having never won it in the ring.
"This was grossly unfair. My aim is to become the first ever Edinburgh boxer to win two world titles."
Arthur is fighting on the undercard of Ricky Burns' title fight, the third defence of his Commonwealth super-featherweight title against Belfast's Kevin O'Hara.
Also on the bill is Edinburgh southpaw welterweight Gary McMillan who will fight Mansfield-based Latvian Alex Spitko, an 11th-hour replacement for Lanarkshire's Paddy Pollok who withdrew after injuring a knuckle in training.
Trainer McCormack said: "While it's true that Gary is unbeaten in his last ten fights, Spitko is a light-middleweight who will come in at 11st 4lb, which is heavier than Gary.
"Also, Spitko is a notorious roughhouse type boxer so it will be a real feather in Gary's cap if he wins as Spitko came up to Glasgow two weeks ago and not only outpointed Coatbridge's Chris Black but he also decked Black for an eight count.
"Spitko is dangerous, but I still think that McMilllan can register his 11th consecutive pro win against the Latvian."
