It says something for the east-west balance in Scottish boxing that Alex Arthur will become the first Scot to defend a world title in Edinburgh when he faces Stephen Foster Jr at Meadowbank Arena tonight. That the finest boxer Scotland has produced, Ken Buchanan, was also from the Scottish capital but never even defended a professional title north of the border shows the difficulty those from the city have had building support.

Arthur is making the first defence of his interim WBO super-featherweight title, which he won by stopping Koba Gogoladze, a United States-based Georgian, in Cardiff in July. He should lose the interim tag next month if, as expected, Joan Guzmán, the champion from the Dominican Republic, moves up to lightweight and, in a division that includes the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez, Arthur, 29, is hoping for his own super-bout at Edinburgh Castle next summer.

“A super-fight at my weight next year is my priority,” Arthur said. “I would love to take on one of the major names, whether it be Guzmán or whoever. I have always set myself goals since I was a young lad and I have almost hit the target every time.”

He is not expected to have those plans derailed by Foster, from Salford, whose father, Steve, unsuccessfully challenged Ronald “Winky” Wright for the WBO light-middleweight title in Manchester a decade ago. Foster, 27, has lost just once in 25 bouts but is moving up from featherweight, where he was comprehensively outboxed by Derry Mathews last year.

Ricky Hatton refused to rule out a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr when he returned to Manchester from Las Vegas yesterday, five days after Mayweather stopped him in the tenth round of their WBC welterweight title bout. “I’m going to have a few weeks off, but I’ll definitely be back,” Hatton said. “I’ll see what fights are offered to me and sit down and talk to my team.”

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