Jamie Arthur

Early bouts and first retirement

Arthur turned professional in 2003 with promoter Frank Warren, having initially made plans to continue fighting as an amateur in order to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Arthur commented that the lack of funding provided by the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association (WABA) had influenced his decision, although this was rebutted by the organisation's chairman.^[12][13] Fighting out of a Penarth-based gym, he made his professional debut at lightweight in March by defeating Daniel Thorpe on a points decision over four rounds at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow.^[14] Three months later he recorded his second victory by defeating James Gorman on points despite his opponent weighing more than half a stone (7 lb (3.2 kg)) heavier.^[15]

Arthur won a further four bouts in the final four months of 2003 after returning to original trainer Chris Manley of the Coed Eva club after his second bout.^[16] He stopped three opponents before defeating Jus Wallie on points in December.^[1] He was due to fight Mger Mkrtchyan in February 2004 but was forced to withdraw after a cut he had sustained in his victory over Wallie, which had required 15 stitches, had been slow to heal.^[17] Instead, his next bout was a points victory over Kris Taylor in late March.^[1] In July 2004, Arthur faced a significantly more experienced opponent in former French super-bantamweight champion Frederic Bonifai.^[18] He defeated Bonifai on points and recorded a similar victory over Buster Dennis two months later.^[1]

In January 2005, Arthur met Haider Ali after a four-month break due to sustaining another cut.^[19] He suffered his first professional defeat after the referee stopped the bout due to a severe cut that Arthur had sustained from a clash of heads. In a bid to stop the recurring cut issues, Arthur hoped to undergo surgery to fix the problem but was told that the operation would not be a success.^[20] Arthur returned in July 2005 working under new coach Enzo Calzaghe,^[21] but suffered a second consecutive defeat against Harry Ramogaodi after being knocked down three times despite breaking his opponents' jaw during the bout.^[22] His defeat led to him being released from his contract with Warren's promotion company.^[13] In September 2005, Arthur announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 25 due to his ongoing cut issues and having struggled to support his family financially. He commented "the enjoyment hasn't been there for the last 18 months, so when you're not enjoying something it's time to make a change" and announced plans to become an amateur trainer.^[23][24]

Return to boxing

Arthur opened an amateur gym in Newport in 2007 and worked as a trainer for 18 months. He announced a return fight for April 2008 against Ghanaian Mettle Ayitey.^[25] Arthur dominated the fight to record his first victory since 2004 and stated that his ultimate aim on returning was to secure a British title.^[26][27] During his second fight on his return, in July of the same year, Arthur stopped Dai Davies in the second round of their bout to win the Welsh super-featherweight title. His comeback was briefly derailed when he suffered a broken finger in training shortly afterwards and was forced to pull out of a fight against Riaz Durgahed in Bristol,^[28] but he returned in November to defeat Steve Gethin on points.^[1]

He began 2009 with victories over Youssef al-Hamidi and Andrey Kostin in February and March respectively.^[1] His five-fight winning streak resulted in him facing undefeated Akaash Bhatia in an eliminator to become the number one contender for the British title. The 10-round fight finished with Arthur being named the winner by a single point and was later nominated for the British fight of the year award.^[29] Arthur secured a British featherweight title fight against unbeaten Martin Lindsay following his victory over Bhatia.^[30] As a warm-up bout for the contest, Arthur defeated Englishman Mickey Coveney on points at the Newport Centre, despite separating from trainer Eddie Avoth only eight days before the fight.^[3] Against Lindsay, Arthur lost the bout by unanimous decision after being knocked down twice and suffering a cut in the 11th round.^[31]

Arthur had pledged to retire from the sport if he lost his British title fight,^[31] but in May 2010 he was offered the chance to join the Prizefighter series, a knockout tournament organised by Sky Sports consisting of three-round bouts held on the same night, at super bantamweight. He joined the competition with only 12 days notice to replace the injured Craig Lyon.^[32] He defeated Robbie Turley in his quarter-final before losing to the undefeated Ricky Owen in the semi-final.^[33]

Commonwealth title and retirement

Despite his defeat, Arthur credited the Prizefighter series with inspiring him to fight again, dropping to super-bantamweight permanently.^[34] He was named as a surprise contender for the vacant Commonwealth super-bantamweight title against the undefeated Kris Taylor.^[35] Arthur was deducted two points during the bout for low blows and suffered a cut, but still went on to win a points decision to claim his first major title.^[36][37] His reign as champion was short-lived as he lost in his first defence to Jason Booth in February 2011 in a split decision.^[38] Despite being offered a rematch, Arthur initially chose to retire from boxing for a second time.^[2] In 2012, he came out of retirement to fight Scott Quigg for the British Super-bantamweight belt after Rendall Munroe turned down the bout.^[39] Arthur caused a surprise by knocking the unbeaten Quigg down in the fourth round, however the referee called a halt to the fight after Quigg landed several heavy body blows to Arthur in the eighth round. Arthur was upset with the stoppage, stating that the shots had caught him off balance and he was fine to continue.^[40]

Arthur retired again after the bout, opening his own gym in Rhydyfelin in Pontypridd and coaching Newport-based fighter Bradley Pryce.^[41][42] Arthur made a brief return in 2015 to fight Antonio Horvatic at the Newport Centre. He returned again hoping to challenge for a British title and defeated Horvatic on points.^[1][33] He was forced to withdraw from a bout in early 2016,^[43] never fighting at a professional level again.^[1]