MOST boxers would be flattered to be compared with Ken Norton, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Alex Arthur, however, will be unable to appreciate the bond he now shares with the American ring legend.
At the MEN Arena in Manchester on Saturday night, Arthur suffered the same quirk of fate experienced by Norton 30 years ago. Norton was the world heavyweight champion who never won a world title fight. Awarded the title by the WBC when Leon Spinks
refused to fight him in 1977, Norton lost his first defence to Larry Holmes the following year.
In a sport where politics can be just as telling as punches, Arthur became the WBO super-featherweight champion earlier this year when Joan Guzman, the unbeaten title holder, opted to move up to the more lucrative lightweight division rather than travel to Edinburgh to defend against the Scot.
It meant Arthur went into his first defence of the belt against English challenger Nicky Cook seeking to avoid becoming the answer to the kind of pub quiz question which has always haunted the legacy of Norton.
Sadly, Arthur's unanimous points defeat on a dramatic evening means he is; as a former world champion who has never won a world title fight. At 30, he still has time to set that record straight. But this was not the way Arthur wanted to mark his first headline appearance at the biggest venue in British boxing.
Supremely confident in the days leading up to the fight, Arthur was a ball of pent-up anticipation on Saturday. The time between the Friday lunchtime weigh-in and his entry to the ring just after 10pm on Saturday night stretched out agonisingly before him.
Arthur killed some of the time by watching the action adventure movie Iron Man in his city centre hotel room. Later on, he wandered into the hotel bar to discover Scotland were already 1-0 down to Macedonia.
Perhaps too uncomfortable to sit still for long enough to watch, he went for an afternoon stroll to loosen the muscles.
At the arena, a lengthy undercard began at 6pm, a series of young prospects and gnarled journeymen doing their best to entertain fans who had paid between £30 and £200 for tickets.
The British Olympic boxing squad, including middleweight gold medallist James Degale, were introduced to the crowd and received a rapturous response.
What they then witnessed may have persuaded them to remain in the amateur ranks. Audley Harrison, the 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight champion, was jeered mercilessly throughout his laboured points win over George Arias of Brazil.
Worse was to follow for Amir Khan, the Bolton boxer who starred at the 2004 Olympics, winning a silver medal at the age of just 17. Groomed for world champion status ever since, Khan suffered the first defeat of his pro career when he was brutally knocked out after just 54 seconds by Breidis Prescott of Colombia.
It had been another spectacular night at the MEN Arena, if not in the manner Khan, Arthur or most of the rest of us had anticipated.
The full article contains 526 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
