Arthur hits back at jibe

EDINBURGH'S triple super featherweight title holder Alex Arthur has hit back at claims from Glasgow promoter Alex Morrison that he "lacks class at world level".

Morrison, who manages Arthur's title defence opponent at Meadowbank on February 18, Coatbridge's Ricky Burns, made the comments in an interview in Boxing News.

While forecasting that unbeaten Burns will snatch Arthur's European, Commonwealth and British crowns, Morrison claimed: "I don't think that Arthur is a world-class boxer."

Arthur, meanwhile, responded by saying: "Alex Morrison is just whistling in the dark and trying to get my goat. Deep down, Alex knows that I will beat Burns - just as I beat Alex's last entry for my title, Glasgow's Willie Limond.

"Morrison admitted that his fighter failed to rattle me and if he thinks that Burns will fair any better than Limond did, then I've a message for him.

"History will repeat itself a week on Saturday and both Burns and Morrison will both be wiser and sorrier after then."

Arthur added: "The people whose opinion really matters about my standing as a fighter in international terms, the WBC, the IBF and the WBO, all rate me highly."

Meanwhile, Arthur, also confirmed that American boxing TV commentating commitments meant that Irish ex-WBC super bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough would not now arrive to second Arthur against Burns, until this weekend. Confirmed Arthur: "Wayne will definitely be in my corner at Meadowbank and will also arrive next weekend to help me in the final countdown for my training preparations for that fight."