Pushed back

14 January 2010 – By Mark Doyle

Martin Lindsays mandatory British featherweight title defence against Jamie Arthur has been confirmed for March 19 at the Leigh Indoor Sports Centre.

Lindsay had been hoping that the bout, which had originally been scheduled to take place in Newport, Wales on February 5, might be switched to his native Belfast.

However, it has now been fixed for Lancashire and will take place in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The undefeated Lindsay is in confident mood ahead of his first defence of the title he won with a stunning sixth-round stoppage of Paul Appleby last April.

“Everything is going well except that is about -12 in the gym,” he joked. “You are training harder just to stay warm.

“The weather does have a bit of an effect on your roadwork but there are a few treadmills in the gym so you can still go in and tick away on them.”

Arthur represents a formidable and fascinating test for Lindsay. The Welshman retired from the sport in July, 2005 on the back of successive stoppage defeats, against Haider Ali and Harry Ramogoadi.

However, he returned two years ago and has since won seven fights on the bounce, including a thrilling points win over Akaash Bhatia in a British title eliminator last June.

Arthur said: “The reason I came back was to win the British title and I think my challenge will be a helluva fight.”

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