DETHRONED WBO super- featherweight boxing champ Alex Arthur has suffered a freak injury at the hands of his young son.
Liston whacked his dad with a tennis racket – perforating his eardrum and scuppering his plans to watch his pal Kenny Anderson box in London.
But Arthur insists the injury won't silence his calls for a rematch with Dagenham's Nicky Cook, who took
the title on points in Manchester on Saturday.
Arthur was handed the crown by default when Joan Guzman failed to defend against him and to relinquish it in his first defence against Cook was a bitter blow.
The Edinburgh boxer was furious at the scoring and, despite most observers reckoning Cook had won, demanded promoter Frank Warren stage a rematch.
He repeated that call today, saying: "I've spoken with Frank Warren again and I've told him that I still want a December rematch to regain my title.
"In the cold light of day, I realise that all those who said that the real Alex Arthur was missing in action were correct – I wasn't a patch on the guy who won the WBO Interim title against Koba Gogoladze but I promise that the real me will be in action in the rematch."
Arthur had planned to fly to London to watch Anderson fight in a Great Britain v. USA charity international tomorrow but his injury has put paid to that.
Anderson's opponent has again been switched – from American southpaw Michael Rayner to Czech Roman Vanicky.
But Anderson said: "I've been preparing to box a southpaw and Vanicky is an orthodox fighter but that won't affect the outcome as I aim to win."
The full article contains 280 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
