Arthur gains first title as a pro by Kevin Taylor Jul 13th 2008

Cwmbran's Jamie Arthur needed under five minutes to take the Welsh title away from champion Dai Davies at the Newport Centre last night and in doing so probably became the first Scot to ever hold the Welsh title.  (Jamie was born in Aberdeen but moved to Wales at four years old and is a Welshman through and through.)   The former Commonwealth Games gold medallist looked in  great shape as he came into the ring spot on the featherweight limit of nine stones despite the fact that he was fighting for the super-featherweight title, opponent and champion Dai Davies also came in just over nine stone.   It wasn't unlucky thirteen for Arthur having only his second fight in three years after retiring from the sport after consecutive defeats to Haider Ali and Harry Ramogoadi as he moved his record to 11-2 (4).   Arthur started well behind his jab and took the first round on my card then seemed to move up a gear in the second round and let rip with a couple of quick combinations to Davies' body before switching his attention to the head of the Merthyr man. It looked like a session on the body bag for Arthur as he again landed a crunching hook to the body of the champion which took all of the wind out of him as he crumpled to the canvas. Davies stayed down and couldn't beat the count of the experienced Wynford Jones as he fell to his fifth successive defeat as his record moved to 5-10-1.   A jubilant Arthur spoke to me after the fight and confirmed that the plan was to focus on the body of the champion.   "I've known Dai since the amateur days and he's a skilful boxer who always comes forward, we thought the body shots would slow him down as I have never been ten rounds. In the end though the punches to the ribs just took the wind out of him."   Arthur walked away from the sport after the defeat against Ramogoadi in July 2005 citing financial reasons for his retirement, but now it seems he doesn't have that pressure.   "I'm enjoying my boxing now, I have my own business and the gym now so there's no worries about money I can enjoy the boxing with the pressures."   The win definitely puts Arthur back into the mix domestically but as he weighed in on the featherweight limit of course the question is at what weight.   "I made the weight easily and did everything right, I'm going to give it a go at featherweight as that's probably the easier weight division, there are some good boys like Alex Arthur and Kevin Mitchell at super-feather.   "I guess there are still question marks about my strength to do ten rounds at featherweight but I'm going to give it a go, I certainly felt very strong tonight."   Newport's Paul Samuels, roared on by the Samuel's Crew, is also making a comeback last time out he was controversial knocked out by the now Commonwealth champion Darren Barker, after Barker had seemed to touch down and then landed a peach of a left hook to flatten Samuels before referee Parris had a chance to take up the count.   Samuel's who challenged Wayne Alexander for the British light-middleweight title eight years ago, was up at light-heavy for the fight last night and showed he still carries the power even at the bigger weight putting Manchester's Mark Nielsen down three times before referee Grant Wallis called it off with fourteen seconds to go in the first round to get his first win for five and a half years and take his record to 18-3-2 with eleven wins early.   At thirty-five the former IBO World title challenger doesn't have time on his hands but puts bums on seats with his entertaining style and was cheered on by former sparring partner Joe Calzaghe, after the fight he was quick to praise his fans when he took the mic.   "I'd like to thank all my fans. Everyone has troubles in life and I have had mine, but I've put them behind me now."   Newport's Matthew Edmonds showed glimpses of class against Ghanian Aitttey Mettle but the fight was spoilt by the showboating of the man from Africa who hardly threw a punch and seemed happy to run around the ring. Mettle who fought Jamie Arthur at the same venue in April went down by the same score 60-54 again.   Two debutants got their careers off to a good start with local light-heavyweight Justyn Hugh losing the first round against Tooting based Pole Pawel Trebinski before settling and getting a points win 59-56 on referee Reece Carter's card, well supported Hugh looked like he could be a prospect if his career is nurtured correctly.   The other debutant Lee Selby took a 60-54 points win over tough Brummie Sid Razak. Razak never took a step backward against the flashy Selby who boxed with his hands down and taunted Razak by sticking his chin out and then using his quick reflexes to avoid the shots. Selby displayed quick hands and landed time and time on Razak, but that low hand defence and high chin could be his undoing further down the line.   Rob Turley returned to winning ways after losing his unbeaten tag to Riaz Durgahed last time out, and made it four wins out of four in Newport as he beat the Kenyan Geofrey Munika, 60-55 on referee Jones' card.   This was Munika's fourth fight in the last month which has seem him fight in England, Ireland and now Wales but he never looked like scoring an upset and I totally agreed with referee Jones' card.   Another good show put on by the Sanigar's with a good crowd who roared on their local heroes from start to finish and also had the added bonus of meeting two of Wales' boxing champions Bradley Pryce and Joe Calzaghe.

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