Arthur Fearing A Guzman No Show

Feb 3 2008 By Ewing Grahame

ALEX ARTHUR has one big fear for his showdown with WBO super featherweight king Joan Guzman - that the champ won't turn up.

Leith Legend Arthur should have been overjoyed when he heard last Thursday his promoter FrankWarren won the purse bid by putting £140,000 on the table - £86,000 of which will go to the Guzman (below) camp.

However the 29-year-old, whose ambition has always been to box for the world title in Edinburgh, will only believe it when it happens.

The contest is likely to be scheduled for May 3 but although he's in full training Arthur can't help feeling all his hard work may be for nothing.

Alex said: "I'm worried he might relinquish the title rather than fight me.

"I don't think Guzman is afraid of me but he doesn't like to travel. He pulled out of a fight against Scott Harrison at short notice a couple of years back.

"He's rumoured to be having problems making the weight and is not getting a huge amount of money to come here which makes me nervous as well.

"Luckily he has been forced into a corner because I've been the WBO's mandatory contender for 18 months.

"Either I get the superfight I've always wanted - or he's stripped of his belt and I become champion automatically." Arthur is determined to leave nothing to chance so is importing the best trainers and sparring partners.

He said: "I've been to Las Vegas to prepare for a few fights but each time I came back I felt dreadful and couldn't keep my food down for a couple of weeks.

"That harmed my performance so I've spoken to Wayne McCullough about him coming to train me and Wes Ferguson would be ideal for sparring as he has a similar style to Guzman."

Arthur revealed he took just four days off after his victory over Steve Foster on December 15 so he wouldn't balloon in size during the festive period.

He said: "I love my grub but after beating Koba Gogoladze I put on almost three stone.

"That's why I was in the gym four days after beating Foster - and haven't stopped going since."