WHEN Alex Salmond announced shortly after the foundation of the Alba Party that he would soon be bringing on board a “big hitter” to be a candidate in the Holyrood elections next month, he was not speaking metaphorically.

For the hitter turned out to be Alex Arthur, the former super-featherweight boxing champion of the world from Edinburgh, who will be one of the four Alba candidates in the Lothians regional list contest on May 6.

The self-confessed “apprentice politician” got a big lesson on day one in the job when his Twitter account turned out to have some ill-judged remarks about Romanians and beggars, but Arthur made a sincere apology and says he will now think twice about what he says and does.

“I got into this because I was asked to, not because I’m a professional politician,” Arthur said. “All I want is for Scotland to be independent and all I want to do is to help Scotland, and I think there’s a way that I can do that due to my experience of sport and life.”

For sake of clarity, as a former boxing correspondent I have known Arthur since he was 19 and he’s now 42. I covered nearly every fight in his professional career and I know why he earned the nickname Amazing – because in the ring, that is what he was, a true successor to the legendary Ken Buchanan as a world champion from Edinburgh, and there’s no higher praise.

Arthur and I were both members of the Sport for Yes group prior to the 2014 referendum, and that is where he first encountered politics in the raw.

He revealed that practically his last action before the referendum vote was to inspire Sir Andy Murray to make his famous “let’s do this” tweet.

“I knew how he felt about Yes and I was on the phone to him about half an hour before he sent out that tweet,” said Arthur. “So I have always thought it was me who got him to do it.”

Since 2014, Arthur has been taking much more interest in politics: “Now I know a lot more about why Scotland should be independent and what the benefits would be.

“I am also surrounded by clever people in Alba, and I can tell you that we already have the makings of a good team.”

Arthur feels health and sport will be the two areas in which he can make a quick difference as an MSP.

“Scotland is struggling health-wise,” said Arthur. “Obesity is a real problem and it’s quite clear to me that part of the problem is that sport is not taken as seriously here as it is in other countries.

“If elected I will hit the ground running and I will do whatever I can to help boost health and sport, especially now and especially for the young who are really suffering at the moment. I have spoken to young sportspeople who have quit and others who are practically suicidal because they haven’t been able to play their sport.

“I am talking about 15 and 16-year-olds who are on anti-depressants. The mental health of young people must become a much bigger priority because we’re looking at serious long-term problems for the country.

“I also feel that the four nations and their approach to dealing with sport in the pandemic has been just wrong. Other countries have managed to keep gyms open and are arranging competitions for young people, but here we’ve kept fast food places open and shut gyms and swimming pools. What’s that about?”

A world-class amateur, Arthur won an extraordinary 133 contests out of 146 in the unpaid ranks, boxing all over the world before gaining the honour that brought him to the notice of the Scottish public – winning the featherweight gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. What it meant for the 20-year-old captain of the Scottish boxing team to win gold for Scotland could be seen immediately as he was announced as the victor – Arthur emotionally sank to his knees and raised his hands to the sky.

He began boxing professionally in 2000, moving up to super-featherweight and winning the British championship in only his 13th fight in October 2002. As Amazing Alex, he added the European and Commonwealth championships before becoming the World Boxing Organisation’s champion in 2007.

There were setbacks along the way, notably against Michael Gomez in the British Fight of the Year in 2003, but Arthur always bounced back until he retired in 2013 with a record of 31 wins and three losses.

Since then he has been a commentator and pundit and owns his own gym in which he trains his sons Alex Jnr and Macklin. The former is the Scottish amateur middleweight champion at 19 and the latter has four national titles and is only 14 – more than his father had at the same age.

Arthur added: “As a boxer I was on a diet for 25 years, and I think there’s not a lot that I don’t know about nutrition, and that’s why I have had a lot of success in getting youngsters and older people to lose weight and control their weight.

“The health of Scotland’s people will be my priority for sure, but I also want to look at sport in general.

“At this point in time it is going to be crucial to get young people back to full fitness. We were already falling behind other countries even before the pandemic, and it will be an uphill struggle if we are to match what is going on elsewhere.

“I am ready to play any part I can in helping to improve health and sport in Scotland.”