Old coach Joe hopes to bring Arthur good Fortune in ring

Published on Tuesday 5 February 2008 09:09

ALEX ARTHUR has enlisted the help of his first boxing coach as he eyes world title glory against Joan Guzman.

Arthur will be temporarily reunited with Joe Fortune from the Leith Victoria club ahead of his WBO super-featherweight showdown with Dominican Republic fighter Guzman on April 26 – the venue for which is yet to be decided.

Fortune, 73, explained: "I gave Alex Arthur a thorough grounding in ring craft when I coached him for the first nine years of his amateur career – a grounding which included Alex having an almost watertight defence.

"Under my guidance, Alex was almost never cut, knocked down or knocked out in around 60 amateur bouts.

"Recently I've watched Alex being caught by a sucker punch from Steve Foster and decked at Meadowbank in December.

"He was also cut badly in a European title fight with a Russian (Sergei Gulyachev] something that I can't ever recall happening when I was in his corner."

And Fortune believes he is the man to sort out Arthur's defensive woes. He said: "I feel Alex's defence has become sloppy and this worries me deeply as I've also just watched Joan Guzman in two of his most recent bouts on video and the guy is hot stuff.

"I dearly want Alex to win the world title so I'm going back to his training camp to offer him guidance on restoring his defence to what it was in his amateur heyday in the 1990s."

Meanwhile, Arthur responded positively to former coach Fortune's offer, saying: "I have the greatest respect for Joe Fortune and I agree with what he says.

"Joe took my raw talent and refined it into a boxer who could win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1998.

"I will be inviting Joe down to the gym to work on my defensive skills – it would be crazy not to as I'm willing to do anything that helps me bring a world title win over Guzman."