boxing The Bard would surely have approved of Gary McArthur's fortitude after the Clydebank lightweight rescued the St Andrew's Sporting Club's annual Burns show by agreeing to step in at only a few hours notice to top the bill against Billy Smith of Worcester.

McArthur, the British Masters champion, maintained his perfect record on Monday evening when he outpointed his English opponent 80-73 to claim his 11th straight win.

Barry Morrison, the 27-year-old-former British light-welterweight champion from Motherwell, had been supposed to headline the show - he is looking to get on the comeback trail after relinquishing his title to Colin Lynes - but he was forced to call-off after being struck down by flu.

Tommy Gilmour, the promoter, said yesterday: "Barry called me at 12.30 on Monday afternoon to say that he was feeling lousy. He was prepared to go ahead with the fight but there was no way I was going to allow him to take a risk with his health.

"We started phoning round in an effort to find a stand-in and, when I called Gary at around one o'clock, he told me he had just arrived at Waverley Station on his way to a sparring session with Paul Appleby, another of my boxers.

"When I told him what had happened and asked if he was fit to fight at short notice, he jumped at the chance. Smith is no mug, as he proved by ending George McIlroy's undefeated record on his previous visit to Scotland, but Gary was in complete control and won impressively."

McArthur's trainer, John McDermott, added: "Gary is the only boxer in the stable capable of taking a fight at short notice and winning so convincingly."

McArthur's reward for bailing Gilmour out is a place on next month's Sky show when Kevin McIntyre defends his British welterweight title in a rematch with the former champion, Kevin Anderson, at the Kelvin Hall.