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Scott Harrison's arrest scuppers showdown with Alex Arthur

As if Scott Harrison did not have enough to worry about right now, he could mull over the thought that he has just blown a potential big-money fight with Alex Arthur.

Harrison, 30, was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after he was stopped by police in his car in Ferniegair, Lanarkshire, on April 22. Needless to say this will not help his attempts to get back his boxing licence. And a planned all-Scottish showdown with Arthur, which could have taken place next month, has also been ditched.

Pacquiao win stops fighting in Philippines

The Philippines army declared a seven-hour truce with insurgents, allowing both sides to watch Manny Pacquiao win the WBC super featherweight title from Juan Manuel Marquez on Sunday. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led Filipinos in rejoicing over Pacquaio's victory. The bout in Las Vegas provided a welcome distraction for Arroyo, who has grappled with widespread calls for her resignation over a corruption scandal.

BBC screens Haye v Maccarinelli

For those of you who missed out on seeing David Haye's demolition of Enzo Maccarinelli last weekend, the BBC is continuing its encouraging trend of showing big fights a week on. The action - it's listed as highlights, but I'm sure it will be the whole thing - will be shown on BBC2 at 12.30pm on Sunday.

London notes (2)

Joe Calzaghe, unsurprisingly, is picking his friend and sparring partner, Enzo Maccarinelli to beat David Haye. "As far as I'm concerned, Enzo has the speed, power and everything needed to win this fight," Calzaghe, who will be ringside tonight, said. "Haye looked good against [Jean-Marc] Mormeck, but Mormeck is Mormeck, he's not Enzo Maccarinelli.
While Haye has made a big deal about staying on US time for the late start, Calzaghe is not expecting Maccarinelli to sleep in. "He's like me, so he'll be up early," Joe said. "You always want to lie in but the adrenalin and excitement kicks in and you can't get back to sleep. That's what happened when I fought Jeff Lacy. Have a cold shower at about 11pm and he'll be fine."

Arthur v Guzman is on

Alex Arthur's big fight against Joan Guzman is finally on and will go ahead in Arthur's home city of Edinburgh.
Guzman is the WBO super-featherweight and Arthur the interim champion. Sports Network had won the purse bids to stage the bout, but doubts remained about whether Guzman would be willing to come to the UK for the contest.

Harrison found not guilty of assaulting police officer

Scott Harrison could soon be a licensed boxer again. The two-time WBO featherweight champion appeared in court in Glasgow on Monday to answer charges relating to an incident in a Glasgow pub in April 2006 and things went as well as he could have hoped.

Harrison admitted charges of breach of the peace and resisting arrest, but was found not guilty of a potentially more damaging charge of assaulting a police officer.

Harrison vows to be a world champion again

Perhaps the most welcome sight in recent months has been Scott Harrison in shape and moving off the news pages and back on to the sports pages. The two-time WBO featherweight champion still has his share of problems ahead of him, but opened up a training session to the media in Glasgow on Tuesday and says he wants to be a world champion again within six months.

Life, of course, is not that straight forward. First he must get past a court case, due to start in Glasgow on February 11, then he must successfully apply to have his boxing licence re-instated.

Arthur has home advantage, but will Guzman show up?

If it goes ahead, it will be a fight that will fit in well with what is developing into the best Spring in the history of boxing. Frank Warren's winning purse bid of $280,000 for the bout between Joan Guzman, the WBO super-featherweight title, and Alex Arthur, the interim champion, beating Sycuan, Guzman's promoters, by $28,000. The bout is due to take place in London, Glasgow or Edinburgh on April 26 (meaning on successive weekends there will be Woods-Tarver, Calzaghe-Hopkins and Guzman-Arthur). But perhaps the biggest question is whether the fight will take place at all.

World shrinking for Britain's champions

It used to be a big event when a British boxer went to America, now it happens almost every week. Joe Calzaghe is, of course, off to Las Vegas to face Bernard Hopkins on April 19, but another three of our world champion could find this week that they are heading Stateside too.
Clinton Woods, Junior Witter and Alex Arthur are on the verge of  huge fights and victory in them could set up even bigger matches closer to home.

Mitchell has plenty of reasons to stay positive

Kevin Mitchell has every reason to be a bit fed up ahead of what was supposed to be a big night for him at York Hall this evening.  2007 was a pretty wasted year, 2008 was meant to be when it all came together for him. But it was never going to be that easy.

Weight problem could hurt Arthur's ambitions

Alex Arthur's hopes of making a big splash in the super-featherweight division could be hit by increasing difficulties in making the weight. Arthur has often had to boil down to make 9st 4lb, but the effort he made to get down for his interim WBO title defence against Stephen Foster Jr in Edinburgh at the weekend seemed to take a toll with a sometimes lifeless performance by the Scot.

Arthur highlights the great divide

After the packed press benches in Las Vegas, last weekend, it will be interesting to see how many of the English national boxing media join me ringside at the Meadowbank Arena in Edinburgh on Saturday night when Alex Arthur makes the first defence of his interim WBO super-featherweight title against Stephen Foster Jr.

Arthur's title may come at a cost

Ever since it was announced, I have been trying to think of a reason to justify next month's Alex Arthur-Stephen Foster Jr bout for the interim WBO super-featherweight title. My original thoughts were that Foster was probably chosen as the opponent because he was cheap and a fellow Frank Warren boxerwhile an all-British angle might sell a few tickets and get some TV viewers south of the border.