Arthur in Line for Showdown With Harrison After Epic Battle

Alex Arthur may be on a collision course with his great Scottish rival Scott Harrison after coming through one of the hardest fights of his professional career to outpoint Salford's Stephen Foster Jr and retain the World Boxing Organization "interim" version of the world super-featherweight title in a thrilling contest at the Meadowbank Arena.

The 30-year-old Harrison, the former WBO featherweight champion, has not fought for more than two years. He has been repeatedly in trouble with police and has had to battle depression and alcoholism. But he is back in training, and claims to have beaten the bottle.

The British Boxing Board of Control will have to decide whether or not they relicense Harrison, who was at ringside on Saturday and is hoping to return to boxing in March when he is expected to fight at super-featherweight, where he would be able to move towards a possible all-Scottish showdown against Arthur.

Arthur, 29, has decided to stay at the 9st 4lb super-featherweight limit and will be installed as champion by the WBO if their full title holder, Joan Guzman of the Dominican Republic, does not agree to face him in the next 90 days. The word within the sport is that Guzman may opt to relinquish his crown to further his career as a lightweight. "If Guzman decides to keep his title, then I will do everything to bring him to Scotland to face Alex," said the promoter Frank Warren last night. "But I would not be surprised if Alex is named champion and then there are some intriguing fights out there for him. One would be against the winner of the British super-featherweight title fight [on January 12] between Carl Johanneson and Kevin Mitchell. And longer term, there could be Scott Harrison. I have always said that Harrison versus Arthur is a natural. It has all the elements because it is Glasgow [Harrison] versus Edinburgh [Arthur]."

Warren added that if Arthur stepped up to lightweight there would be a big-money fight for him to face Amir Khan, and exactly how long Arthur will be able to stay at super-featherweight is open to debate after the relatively unconsidered Foster pushed him all the way.

Arthur eventually beat Foster by scores of 114-111 twice on the judges' cards, with the third judge making it 113-112 with Arthur only winning courtesy of a point deducted from Foster by the referee for illegal use of the head.