EDINBURGH'S Interim WBO super-featherweight champion, Alex Arthur, was delighted yesterday after learning that Dominican Republic boxer Joan Guzman had finally put pen to paper on the contract to defend his full version of the title.
Now Guzman will clash with Arthur in either Edinburgh or London – on a date yet to be fixed within the next few months by Sportsnetwork.
Greeting the news, Arthur said: "At last! I was becoming very pessimistic and frustrated waiting and hearing
nothing about the fight after my manager, Frank Warren, won the purse bids recently to stage the fight.
"Also, the news is a boost to my morale as I've had to stop training to look after my three sons as my wife Debbie has been supporting my brother Mark's partner who gave birth to a very premature baby last week – a very worrying time for all the family including myself.''
"Still, I can now plan my serious training build-up for the Guzman fight, which, as I've said before will be the toughest of my entire career. Although I'd prefer the fight to be in Edinburgh it doesn't really matter where we clash – this is my big chance. I'll be 30 this year so I can't afford to hang around. I have to grab Guzman's title, defend it a couple of times then move up to lightweight."
"At least Guzman has proved me wrong – I thought that he might have done a runner on me and refused to come to Britain like he once did with Scott Harrison."
The full article contains 264 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
