Alex Arthur Determined To Follow Pacquiao Path, Stephen Halliday, scotsman.com
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| Glax0r |
 Nov 18 2009, 10:16 AM
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Alex Arthur determined to follow Pacquiao path Published Date: 18 November 2009 By STEPHEN HALLIDAY, scotsman.com ALEX Arthur admits he is taking a significant risk by stepping up to light-welterweight when he returns to the ring in Newcastle next month, but is determined to follow the trend set by the world's leading boxer Manny Pacquiao as he attempts to become a world champion in three different weight divisions. The Edinburgh boxer, who has had just 93 seconds of ring action since losing the WBO super-featherweight title to Nicky Cook 14 months ago, will face Nigel Wright on the undercard of the Amir Khan-Dmitriy Salita bill on 5 December. Wright, the 30-year-old former British and Commonwealth light-welterweight title challenger from County Durham, has operated in the ten-stone division throughout his respected professional career. Arthur, whose increasing struggles to make the 9st 4lbs super-featherweight limit prompted his move to lightweight following the Cook defeat, is now prepared to adopt a more flexible approach in his quest to reignite his career. "Of course it is a risk to jump up a further division to light-welter against someone like Nigel, but that's the game we are in," said Arthur. "You have to go in with someone at a higher weight if it is the right fight for you. I always set goals for myself and I still want to be the first Scottish boxer to win world titles in three weight divisions. "Next year, my intention would be to fight at lightweight in pursuit of a world title. But I want to fight the best fighters out there and if that means fighting at light-welterweight when an opportunity comes along, so be it. Look at Manny Pacquiao, who again stepped up a division to take the biggest fight out there against Miguel Cotto and succeeded in winning another world title at another weight." World title options for Arthur in 2010 could include WBA light-welterweight champion Khan, who makes the first defence of that belt against Salita in Newcastle, or the WBO lightweight crown for which highly rated Londoner Kevin Mitchell and Breidis Prescott of Colombia will contest an eliminator on the same Sky Box Office bill. Arthur is currently ranked No3 at lightweight by the WBO, but the 31-year-old appreciates he cannot afford to look beyond the challenge set by Wright. It will certainly be far sterner than his first round stoppage of outclassed French journeyman Mohamed Benbiou in Glasgow five months ago. "You are only as good as your last fight and my last fight only lasted a minute and a half," said Arthur. "So a world title fight is definitely at least two or three fights away for me. There is talk about fighting Amir Khan or Kevin Mitchell, which would both be huge fights for me, but I've learned that I really need to focus on what is immediately ahead of me." Arthur is back in full training after being sidelined by a blood disorder which prompted concern about his future, and says he is now in better condition both physically and mentally than he was when losing the WBO super-featherweight crown so insipidly in his first defence against Cook last year. "There was a stage when I thought my career was in jeopardy," he admitted, "but now I'm in a great place, both in my life and in boxing. It is hard to explain the problems I had. It was personal, inside of me, but I don't have that burden now. I'm a different person than I was."
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