Preview: Arthur-Limmond; Pickering-Carr

By Steven Connolly

09.07 - Edinburgh's Alex Arthur defends his British Super Featherweight title in an all Scottish showdown with Willie Limond in the chief support to the Harrison/Medina Fight. This one a rare Edinburgh versus Glasgow championship affair (think of Buchanan-Watt) has been on the cards for some time, but Limond twice pulled out of previous scheduled meetings due to eardrum injuries sustained in sparring.

"I'm delighted the deal is finally done," says Willie. "Now I just can't wait for the fight to take place. Alex is a good champion but I know I can beat him. It’s what I've been working towards for a long time now and I’m confident I'll be the new champion."

Limond has won all his 18 contests to date and manager Alex Morrison is so confident of his chances, he's stuck £10,000 on him to win. Limmond is a good, slick boxer for sure. His last fight, a fourth round knockout of Jimmy Beech, which now looks good in light of Jimmy's subsequent win over Billy Corcoran.

Limond is far more boxer than puncher (five KO's in his 18 wins). He certainly has the boxing skills to give Arthur trouble, especially in front of a large, pro-Limond crowd at the Braehead Arena. This could turn into a tricky night for the champion in fact.

'Amazing' Alex is also unbeaten at 15-0, has long been mooted as a future 'world' champion after an impressive amateur career that saw him win a Commonwealth games gold medal and lose a tight one to Rocky Juarez in the 1999 world amateur championships. He turned pro in 2000 with a spate of early wins - and could be ready to shine again after a couple of so-so peformances in recent fights. He definitely carries the firepower to trouble his opponent, with 13 of his 15 opponents stopped or knocked out.

This is a genuinely exciting encounter of two unbeaten prospects and could turn into the fight of the night. But I expect Arthur to come through. He may be outboxed for part of the fight, and Limond does seem to be digging harder nowadays. He recorded an impressive third-round stoppage of Bulgarian lightweight champion, Assen Vassilev prior to despatching Beech - a man who had gone the distance with Stefanzo Zoff and Jason Cook. And Patrick Malinga, Arthur's last opponent, definitely stung the Scot with a left hook midway through the second round. But when youy take into consideration that South Africa's Malinga had won 10 of his 13 victories inside two rounds, that slight 'scare' doesn't look too bad. Arthur produced a more impressive left hook to finish it in round six.

Interestingly, Arthur's longest - and possibly toughest - fight to date came in Glasgow at the Kelvin Hall last year when he stopped Polish fighter Darius Snarski in 10 rounds. Arthur, who has never previously gone beyond four rounds before, was caught once or twice by the tough Snarski, but still won every round and proved he could turn it on in the later stages of a contest as well. Snarski was floored by a body shot in the eighth, and ultimately rescued two rounds later under fire. "He surprised me," Alex said afterwards, "but I knew it was going to be tough so I prepared for 12-round fight just in case it happened.

"I was getting to him really early in round two and three and I felt maybe he'd crumble, but he held on and had a great chin."

The 24-year-old revealed he is close friends with the Paisley's Limond, but has warned him not to expect any old pals act come fight time. "Willie's actually a good mate of mine, but at the end of the day it's a business. He's preventing me from progressing in my career and putting food on the table for my kid. It's not very nice, but that's the way it goes."

Arthur was given plenty of hype early in his career. Comparisons to Ken Buchanan were heard time and again, which must have put a lot of pressure on the young man. It certainly mean't the slightest chink in his armour was equally in the spotlight. Arthur throws nice straight punches, good combinations, and possesses a mean left hook to the body. He is a bit upright, however, and doesn't move his head much. He caught a lot of punches in winning the British title against Steve Conway (but finished it spectacularly), and was also tagged on several occasions in his defence against Carl Greaves and last time out against Malinga. There was talk of him training in the States with top trainer, Freddie Roach, but that was quickly scotched by the Scot himself.

Of course the fact remains, he hasn't hasn't even struggled in a fight yet.

Limond may change all that tomorrow. I would be very surprised if Arthur wins early. But I do believe, after some terrific action, he will win somewhere around the middle rounds.

Esham Pickering v Brian Carr

Commonwealth super-bantamweight champion, Esham Pickering, goes for another title when he takes on local man Brian Carr for the vacant British super-bantamweight title on tomorrow's undercard.

Pickering's Commonwealth title is also at stake.
The Newark man won the vacant Commonwealth crown in February with a polished and hard-hitting fifth round stoppage of Kenya's Duncan Karanja in February - five months after being robbed in Spain against Alejandro Monzon. He deserved a title for the scale of that 'defeat' in Spain alone, a fight Pickering clearly dominated. Dave McAuley will have similar memories of a trip to Spain years ago (where he was similarly 'robbed' in defence of his IBF flyweight title against Rodolfo Blanco).

Carr has seen it all before of course. He looked desperately unlucky to lose a decision to Patrick Mullings for the vacant British title in Halifax in 1999 - and remains one of the most seasoned operators in the country with other title fights against messrs Michael Brodie, Nadel Hussein, Cassius Baloyi, Michael Alldis and Mike Deveney. He has yet to win the British title his career and skills so richly deserve. Apart from the Mullings heartbreaker, Brodie stopped him on a cut in 10 quality rounds in 1998 and the useful Alldis also outpointed him over 12 rounds last year. At 34, this must serve as a last chance for the Moodiesburn southpaw.

"Even before I knew about this fight, I'd been looking at the ratings in Boxing News and thinking that there wasn't much between the guys in the top 10," he says. "When I heard the news, though, I was delighted. I'm still shocked because I didn't expect another title shot to come my way. I was ready to chuck it after losing to Alldis but it just goes to show you never know what's around the corner in this game."

Carr has fought only once since the loss to Alldis in march 2002, a points defeat to the heavier John Mackay at the same Braehead Arena in March. "I have enough experience for that not to matter to me," he says. "I'm confident I can do a number on Pickering. He's from Brendan Ingle's stable in Sheffield and boxes in that style: flashy, like Naseem Hamed, but without anything like his power. He had a shot at the WBO title but was blown away inside a round and I must say that I really fancy my chances with this one."

And he has every reason to feel confident. Brian held the same Commonwealth belt Pickering now holds. He outpointed Zimbabwe's Misheck Kondwani over 12 rounds in Glasgow in 2001, but subsequently lost the belt to Alldis (who in turn was forced to vacate after injuries sustained in a car shunt; Pickering then picked up the vacant crown). He also holds an excellent win over John Irwin in the 1992 Olympic deciders in France, the same Irwin who was the first man to beat Pickering as a pro in defence of his British featherweight title. Carr outpointed both Irwin and Denmark's Dennis Holbaeck Pedersen in those Olympic deciders. In the Barcelona Olympics itself, he was unlucky to draw Spain's Faustino Reyes first time out and lost a decision. Reyes went on to reach the final (where he lost to the brilliant Andreas Tews).

He won his first 16 fights on the trot as a pro, but then came the cut eye ending against Brodie, who was forced to fight all the way by the tenacious, skilful and underrated challenger. The Mullings disappointment followed a year later and was even more gut-wrenching for the Scot. Even Mullings looked aghast when his arm was raised at the final bell. He stepped out of his natural weight division to challenge the unbeaten and talented Cassius Baloyi for the WBU featherweight title and was stopped in 10. He also had the misfortune to run into worlld class Nadel Hussein in 2000 and lost on points over 12 rounds. He finally got a break when he outpointed Misheck Kondwani for the vacant Commonwealth super-bantamweight title, but lost the title quickly to Alldis. Now he gets another chance.

Pickering, still only 26, has lost only three of his 25 fights - all of them in title fights, to John Irwin, for the British featherweight title in 1998, to ex-WBO bantamweight champion, Mauricio Martinez, in an ambitious challenge two years ago, and to Monzon for something called the TBA title.

He looked dead at the weight against Martinez at bantamweight, and hopefully the super-bantam division will suit him after a career that has threatened much but, like Carr's, failed to really deliver. The winner of this one tomorrow will boast two genuine titles and can move on with confidence. Neither man is known for his punch power, though Esham certainly got the job done against Karanja last time out, which will have given him a big boost. The Kenyan was floored in the third by a left hook and finished off in the fifth by a peach of a right hand.

Carr, remember, is coming off that points loss to John Mackay.

This one still looks a "pick 'em" fight. Carr's experience belies a relative freshness (he 's only had 32 fights; seven less than Esham) while Pickering's freshness belies a relative inexperience (apart from Irwin and Martinez, he hasn't fought anywhere near the calibre of opponent Carr has). Esham looked the part against Karanja and has long been tipped as one for the future. I just have a sneaky feeling that, on home ground, Carr will prove very difficult to overcome. Barring cuts, the slick southpaw finally captures that elusive British title on points.