Lyndon Arthur is aware – and wary – of potential gatekeeper status

Lyndon Arthur knows he has a hard night on his hands against Bradley Rea, and he knows his fellow Manchester, UK, man is trying to use him as a springboard to bigger things.

Rea is the European light heavyweight titleholder and will have his sights on the division’s leading names should he come through.

Arthur understands that, and he also knows he is the type of fighter someone like Ben Whittaker might be looking at in the gatekeeper mold as he looks to step up his career, having recently signed with Matchroom.

Arthur was not surprised to see Arthur join Matchroom, even though Queensberry Promotions has a deeper talent pool at 175lbs.

“Eddie Hearn’s good at what he does,” said Arthur. “[Whittaker’s] definitely been paid a lot of money, and like I said, Eddie Hearn’s good at what he does. He promotes fights as well, and Eddie and Frank [Warren] get along now. So I don’t think it’ll be such a big issue for Queensberry and Matchroom to make fights anymore like it used to be.”

Does Arthur rate Whittaker highly?

“You know what it is, I say I think he’s a prick, but he’s took the villain role in boxing and it’s his gimmick,” he said. “So I let him have it. He’s a very talented fighter, though. [And] people watch. You love or hate me, you’re going to watch me. That’s Ben. People are going to watch. 

“If you love him, you’re going to watch him. If you love him, you’re going to see his skills. If you hate him, you’re going to watch him because you want to see him get beat. Both times, he gets paid. Both times, you watch him. So fair play to him. He’s still a prick.”

Arthur has had a trilogy of fights against another British rival, Anthony Yarde.

Arthur won their first fight, was stopped in the return and then was outscored in their April trilogy match. Their three fights were all different, and Arthur is at a loss to explain why.

“We have dance partners in boxing, and I think we’re at a level where if we fight 10 times, fights will go either way,” he said. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just one of them things. 

“I think the first fight, he said his mind wasn’t on it. Second fight, my mind wasn’t really on it. Third fight, we’re both trained out and give it our all, and both went in there with a good fight. We’re both at that level. Both will push each other to a certain level.”

Yarde is in deep against David Benavidez on November 22 in Saudi Arabia, and Arthur refuses to rule out his rival.

“He maybe has the power to do it, to hurt Benavidez,” Arthur said of Yarde. “We’ll see. It’s not long now. But it’s a very hard task. Benavidez has got a good output of punches, and I think Yarde will suit Benavidez. I think the fight will suit Benavidez more, out of the pace that he will set for the fight. And Benavidez has got the pedigree.”