Шотландиялық боксшы Алекс Артур және саяси мансабы

Scottish boxer

Alex Arthur, (born 26 June 1978) is a Scottish former professional boxer and political candidate for the Alba Party. Competing from 2000 to 2012, he held the WBO and WBO interim super featherweight titles in 2007. At regional level, he held the British super featherweight title twice between 2002 and 2006, and the Commonwealth and EBU European super featherweight title from 2005 to 2006. He ran as a regional candidate in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election as a member of the Alba Party, but quickly sparked controversy due to his online comments mocking travellers, an AIDS survivor, and spreading COVID 19 misinformation.

Arthur had his first professional contest in November 2000 when he defeated fellow debutant Richmond Asante at the Wythenshawe forum in Manchester. Also on the card that day were fighters of the quality of Anthony Farnell, Junior Witter, Matthew Hatton, Michael Jennings and Jamie Moore. After winning 11 fights in a row and picking up a couple of fringe titles on the way, Arthur managed to get a crack at the vacant British Super Featherweight title when he challenged Dewsbury's Steven Conway at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on 19 October 2002. The win established Arthur as a force on the domestic scene and he followed up the victory with two defences against Carl Greaves and fellow Scot Willie Limond. One more victory would have given him the Lonsdale belt for keeps and that was when the undefeated prospect with a record of 16–0 ran into Longford's Michael Gomez.

Michael Gomez fought Arthur for the British and WBA International super featherweight titles in front of a sold out Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland in October 2003. This was the first professional boxing card in the city for almost 20 years. A war of words was waged between the two fighters prior to the fight, Arthur had stirred up the animosity between the pair stating in an interview that Gomez "gets involved in wars with journeymen" and that "looking deep into Gomez's eyes at the press conference, I'm not sure even he believes he can win. He'll be so fired up I expect it'll take me eight or nine rounds but, if his resistance has gone as people are saying, it could be a lot sooner" and "I see about 20 ways to beat him. I'm just looking forward to shutting him up.". Arthur, who was looking to retain the Lonsdale Belt, was seen as a rising star in British boxing and was being groomed to be a future world champion. Arthur was a strong favourite to defeat Gomez and this fight was seen as a stepping stone against a Gomez who had been through too many battles and abused his body too much. Gomez proved his critics wrong when on the night of the fight Gomez arrived in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire. Eventually, Gomez won this bad tempered contested fight with an explosive knock out of Arthur in the fifth round. Arthur's performance in the early rounds and his resilience before the KO saw the bout hailed as one of the best fights in Britain for a decade. Boxing promoter Frank Warren called the fight "the greatest contest seen on these shores since Nigel Benn beat Gerald McClellan in 1995".

He made his comeback the next year on 27 March 2004 by stopping Michael Kizza in the first round for the IBF Inter Continental super featherweight title. He made two defences of that fringe title before lining himself up for a shot at Commonwealth Super Featherweight champion Craig Docherty. To make matters more interesting the British title was now vacant again meaning that the Docherty fight would be for the British and Commonwealth Super Featherweight titles. The fight took place at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh and ended with Arthur knocking Docherty out in the 9th round. Arthur was once again a force to be reckoned with.

To fully seal his comeback Arthur's next fight was against the reigning European champion at super feather Boris Sinitsin. He managed to defeat the experienced Russian with a wide 12 round decision and so held the British, Commonwealth and European title belts at the same time. He put all three of them on the line in his next fight against fellow Scot Ricky Burns winning another 12 round decision. It was however the only time he would defend all three at once, his next two fights saw him only defend the European title against mandatory challenger Sergey Gulyakevich and Spain's Sergio Palomo.

On 21 July 2007, he stopped Koba Gogoladze in the tenth round to win the interim WBO super featherweight title. He made his first defence on 15 December 2007 against fellow Brit Steve Foster Jr. In what was supposed to be an easy tune up fight, Arthur struggled to win a close unanimous decision. It was a terrible start from the champion, for the first four rounds he was getting beaten to the punch and taking heavy blows from Foster. He regained his composure in the middle rounds and even knocked down his opponent in the 9th with a body shot. However two rounds later in round 11 Arthur got floored himself after taking a right hand that knocked him straight through the ropes. He managed to regain his composure and won a close decision. Following the Foster win Arthur geared himself up to take on Dominican Joan Guzmán who held the full version of the title. However, Guzmán decided that he wanted to move up a weight division and chose not to compete against Arthur. This decision by Guzmán meant that the interim titleholder was now recognised as the organisation's world champion. Arthur however surrendered the title in his very next fight, losing a unanimous points decision to England's Nicky Cook at the MEN Arena in Manchester on 9 September 2008. Arthur claimed that he had been "robbed" he also added "It was three English judges – in England. A fighter knows in his heart if he has won or lost a fight and I really thought I had won", Other observers however thought that the decision was fair and that Cook fully deserved his win.

Since losing to Nicky Cook in 2008 Arthur went on to win against Mohamed Benbiou on 19 June 2009 via TKO in Round 1 at the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow, Arthur then lost on points to Nigel Wright on 5 December 2009 at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle. In 2010 Arthur had 2 back to back wins against Peter McDonagh on 4 September 2010 and Jay Morris on 4 December 2010 both in Glasgow. Arthur was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to boxing.

In 2011 Arthur went into promoting with his own AAA Promotions. His first event took place at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh on 27 August 2011 where Arthur fought Aleksander Vakhtangashvili and won via TKO in the fourth round. On 14 April 2012 AAA Promotions staged their second and final event again at the Meadowbank Stadium where Arthur faced Michael Frontin and won via points after 8 rounds. On 26 June 2013 Arthur officially retired from boxing after 14 months without a fight.

On 29 March 2021, Arthur was announced as a regional candidate for the Alba Party in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Shortly after the announcement, controversy emerged over his previous comments on social media, where he compared Romanian beggars to "juicy overfed pigs", openly mocked an AIDS survivor, and spread misinformation on COVID 19 vaccination. After issuing an apology, where he explained that his comments were a product of his working class upbringing, Arthur continued to retweet anti immigrant content and bragged that members of his family could out fight commenters who criticised him. Following Alba's disappointing results, where they failed to win any constituency or regional seats, Arthur stated that he remained proud to be an Alba candidate and suggested his party had achieved more in the fight for Scottish independence than the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath. In response to further criticism of his political achievements he told a member of the public "Shut up you clown you don't know me", before stating "my 'genes' are very powerful!". New measures for children with gender dysphoria prompted a backlash, with Arthur stating "Kids at that age don't know if they're going for a shite or a haircut". When accused of being anti English, Arthur stated "I'd rather suck Boris Johnson's big toe than Nicola's tits". He has also suggested that Scotland's Olympic prospects would improve by copying the strategies of the Russian committee involved in the doping scandal, stating "We need a bit of Putin in Scotland! ".

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes34 Win31–3 Michael FrontinPTS814 Apr 201233 Win30–3 Aleksander VakhtangashviliTKO4 (10)27 Aug 201132 Win29–3 Jay MorrisPTS84 Dec 201031 Win28–3 Peter McDonaghPTS84 Sep 201030Loss27–3 Nigel WrightPTS85 Dec 200929 Win27–2 Mohamed BenbiouTKO1 (8)19 Jun 200928Loss26–2 Nicky CookUD126 Sep 200827 Win26–1 Stephen FosterUD1215 Dec 200726 Win25–1 Koba GogoladzeTKO10 (12)21 Jul 200725 Win24–1 Sergio PalomoTKO5 (12)4 Nov 200624 Win23–1 Sergey GulyakevichTD7 (12)29 Apr 200623 Win22–1 Ricky BurnsUD1218 Feb 200622 Win21–1 Boris SinitsinUD1223 Jul 200521 Win20–1 Craig DochertyKO9 (12)8 Apr 200520 Win19–1 Nazareno Gaston RuizUD123 Dec 200419 Win18–1 Eric OdumaseRTD6 (12)22 Oct 200418 Win17–1 Michael KizzaKO1 (12)27 Mar 200417 Loss16–1 Michael GomezTKO5 (12)25 Oct 200316 Win16–0 Willie LimondTKO8 (12)12 Jul 200315 Win15–0 Patrick MalingaTKO6 (12)22 Mar 200314 Win14–0 Carl GreavesTKO6 (12)14 Dec 200213 Win13–0 Steven ConwayKO4 (12)19 Oct 200212 Win12–0 Pavel PatipkoKO1 (6)17 Aug 200211 Win11–0 Nikolay EremeevRTD5 (12)8 Jun 200210 Win10–0 Dariusz SnarskiTKO10 (12)11 Mar 20029 Win9–0 Wladimir BorovTKO2 (8)19 Jan 20028 Win8–0 Laszlo BognarTKO3 (8)17 Nov 20017 Win7–0 Alexey SlyauchinTKO1 (6)27 Oct 20016 Win6–0 Dmitry GorodetskyTKO1 (4)15 Sept 20015 Win5–0 Rakhim MingaleyevPTS421 Jul 20014 Win4–0 Dafydd CarlinPTS428 Apr 20013 Win3–0 Woody GreenwayRTD2 (4)26 Mar 20012 Win2–0 Eddie NevinsTKO1 (4)10 Feb 20011 Win1–0 Richmond AsanteTKO1 (4)25 Nov 2000