There’s a Celtic battle for the British lightweight title tonight when Welshman Jamie Arthur challenges Northern Ireland's Martin Lindsay.
On paper you would favour Ulsterman Lindsey all day long to take home his British belt once more. He has been in great form and arguably fought the fight of his life in April last year with a virtuoso victory over the highly-rated Scot Paul Appleby. Lindsey fought a solid fight on the night, relentlessly pursuing Appleby until the ref called a halt to proceedings with a TKO in the sixth. It was a coming of age fight for Lindsey and he has since also beaten Alfred Tetteh in a non-title fight.
Meanwhile Arthur is something of a comeback kid having returned to the ring in 2008 after a three-year break. A highly promising fighter when he first came on the scene, Arthur was undefeated in nine before disaster struck and he suffered back-to-back defeats against Haider Ali and Harry Ramogoadi.
The Ali defeat was mainly down to a cut head after an accidental clash - these things happen - but the Ramogoadi fight was a catastrophe, with the South African dominating the entire bout and flooring Arthur in the fifth. Arthur then took some time away from the sport to think about his next move and since his return his has been pretty much unstoppable. He has won all seven of his fights including taking the British Welsh Area title in only his second comeback fight against Dia Davies.
Arthur’s biggest match since his return, though, was undoubtedly against Akaash “Kash the Bash” Bhatia. It wasn’t convincing, but Arthur definitely edged the tie to hand the fantastically named Kash the Bash the first defeat of his career and put himself in contention for the British belt.
On paper both Lindsey and Arthur are determined fighters who prefer skill but don’t mind a scrap. Lindsey is reminiscent of fellow countryman Barry McGuigan in his style - he has a good shot selection and he’s always happier when on the front foot. Arthur is a touch more cagey; he will back off a bit and look for counters which could play right into Lindsey’s hand.
Lindsey is by no means a fool; he holds a degree in business, finance and investment from the University of Ulster. Not really sure how that will help him in the ring, but if he can still add up as well at the end of his career as he could at the start then he must have done alright.
Arthur boasts a Commonwealth gold medal that he won in 2002 and has trained hard for this fight, but I think on the night Lindsey’s superior strength is going to win it for him. Expect it to be close in the opening rounds but as it continues Lindsey will begin to assert his dominance.
Arthur says he will retire again if he does not go home with belt in hand. I am sorry to say it looks likely that theWelshman might in his rocking chair sooner than he would like.
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