Jim Watt says Scott Quigg will defeat Jamie Arthur on Saturday but expects the bout to go the full distance.
Jim expects champion to win a scrappy bout against Arthur
Scott Quigg won many plaudits for the way he picked apart Jason Booth to win the British super-bantamweight title in October, but he needs to back that up against Jamie Arthur on Saturday night.
Quigg looked the real deal against Booth; swift, intelligent, hard hitting, defensively sound. He has all the attributes and you can see why people are raving about him.
The only thing that could scupper him is if he believes his own hype and stops being humble, but Quigg has some excellent people in his team - promoter Ricky Hatton, trainer Joe Gallagher - so it would be a surprise if that were to happen.
Hatton's name value will get Quigg notoriety and he will be able to use that to his advantage and get the big fights he will be craving, but Hatton is very shrewd and he won't push Quigg before he is ready.
The Bury man should not be thinking about world title opportunities just yet; he still has plenty to do domestically.
Should he beat Arthur, the calls for a meeting with Commonwealth champion Carl Frampton will only get louder.
I would also love to see Quigg go head-to-head with Hatton stable-mate Rendall Munroe, who could quite easily claim to be the best super-bantamweight in the country.
Quigg has worked with some good trainers during his career, formerly Brian Hughes and now Gallagher.
Having a talented trainer only works, however, if you are on the same wavelength as him.
There is no point in someone teaching you a series of intricate manoeuvres if they do not suit your fighting style.
Scott's trainers have always understood his way of fighting and helped him accordingly.
Physical
Frampton beat Kris Hughes last week on
Sky Sports, but Quigg faces a much tougher bout.
Jamie Arthur is a big, physical presence who has been around for a long time and knows all the tricks of the trade. Quigg dealt superbly with the technically-sound Jason Booth, but could find things trickier against the rugged Arthur.
Arthur has lost three of his last five fights, and probably hasn't hit the heights he would have liked, but he has still had a very good career.
Some boxers get the red carpet rolled out for them and find opportunities easy to come by, Arthur, though, has had to scrap for everything he has achieved.
The 32-year-old has been out of the ring since losing to Booth in February of last year but I don't expect him to return a different boxer; that only happens in Hollywood movies. He will be what he has always been: a tenacious, powerful fighter who will be hard to shake off.
Arthur will need to be tremendously tenacious to defeat Quigg because his opponent has no weaknesses in his arsenal. He must box at a pace that Quigg won't like and really try to ruffle his feathers; an early onslaught will be vital.
This is the second week in a row that
Sky Sports will show a super-bantamweight clash and it's a division that is really good to watch at the moment. I'm excited to see how Quigg, Frampton and Munroe fare from this point and what they go on to achieve.
I expect Quigg to add to his reputation by beating Arthur on Saturday, even though it could be a scrappy bout. I think it could go the distance because Arthur is notoriously difficult to knock down, so I'll say Quigg will win on points.
