Odumasi Stopped in Round Six

Alex Arthur, The Edinburgh hero, moved a step closer to a revenge clash with former British super-featherweight champion Gomez with a sixth-round stoppage of Ghana's Eric Odumasi at the Royal Highland Centre on Friday night.

The African had taken Scotland's WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison 12 rounds for the Commonwealth title in 2001 but 26-year-old Arthur left him needing a count of six midway through the opening round with a chopping right hand to the chin.

The hyperactive Odumasi brushed himself down to stage a mini-revival in the next, catching the highly-rated young Scot with a hopeful swinging right.

The flamboyant Brit, nicknamed 'Amazing' Arthur, then took the cautious approach and used his superior boxing skills in trying to wear his opponent down in the third.

His fans were becoming a little restless and demanded an all-action early stoppage but it was his busy opponent who responded with a flurry of menacing punches.

However, after looking worryingly out-of-sorts, Arthur seemed to step it up in the fifth, with the pick of his punches being a crunching left to the head which clearly hurt his opponent.

Arthur followed that up by stepping inside to unleash a fierce left in the sixth which Odumasi survived before needing another count at the end of the round which prompted the referee to step in to save him from further punishment - and give the Scot another success.

"I'm a technical boxer with punch power," Arthur told Sky Sports. "The loss against Gomez was the kick up the backside that I needed and now I'm showing what I can really do.

"A rematch with Michael is what I want and what the whole of Britain wants. He's a great champion and I really respect him."