Boxing: Arthur attempts to salvage career from pain of defeat

The last time that Alex Arthur fought he lost his unbeaten record, his British title and suffered one of 2003's most savage beatings. Tonight, Arthur will climb back into the same ring at the Meadowbank Arena, Edinburgh, to try to salvage a career that after just 17 fights is surely in doubt when he meets Uganda's Michael Kizza for something called the International Boxing Federation Inter-Continental super featherweight title.

The last time that Alex Arthur fought he lost his unbeaten record, his British title and suffered one of 2003's most savage beatings. Tonight, Arthur will climb back into the same ring at the Meadowbank Arena, Edinburgh, to try to salvage a career that after just 17 fights is surely in doubt when he meets Uganda's Michael Kizza for something called the International Boxing Federation Inter-Continental super featherweight title.

When Arthur was dropped and eventually stopped in five bloody and painful rounds by Michael Gomez last year he insisted that his preparation had not been right and that he would return a far better fighter. Most beaten boxers utter the same words when they lose for the first time but few fully recover. "I know what I did wrong and I know how it went wrong against Michael and that means that I can turn it all around and eventually get my revenge,'' Arthur, who spent six weeks training in Los Angeles, said.

In the Gomez fight there were so many flaws in Arthur that at times it was difficult to recognise the boxer in his trademark gold shorts as the boxer who had previously gone 16 fights without defeat. However, the one ingredient that Arthur had previously never had to display before that shocking night was heart and in defeat he showed plenty of bravery and never once turned his head away from what was a lost cause.

Kizza has done most of his fighting in Italy and has lost three times in 20 fights and is by no means an easy test for a young fighter returning from such a savage loss.