Good News!

Iain Axon

Alex Arthur today received a huge boost ahead of his European super-featherweight title defence against Sergey Gulyakevich after learning he could be sanctioned for a shot at the IBF super-featherweight title.

Arthur, who also holds the Commonwealth belt, awoke to the news that the IBF's latest rankings list their super-featherweight crown as vacant.

Veteran Mexican Manuel Medina is the number one contender, while Arthur is the next highest ranked boxer at number three (the number two slot is currently vacant).

With boxing politics - along with the rules of sanctioning bodies - notoriously complex, Arthur is still some way from an automatic shot at the vacant title, and may be forced to box an eliminator.

Whether such a move will tie in with his current plans remains to be seen, but he will be confident of defeating Medina.

Now 35, Medina has mixed memories of Scotland, having snatched Scott Harrison's WBO featherweight crown with a split decision points win in July 2003.

However he was dropped a number of times en route to an 11th round stoppage in a rematch four months later.

Since then Medina, who beagn boxing as a teenager and turned professional at the age of 14 in 1985, has won three fights on the bounce and earned a top-spot ranking with the IBF.