The prayers of a boxer are normally the very human response to the immediate threat to his health. Alex Arthur, however, kept self-preservation in its corner and talked with compassion yesterday of dedicating his first defence of his WBO super-featherweight belt jointly to a fallen hero and an ailing mentor.

Scott Harrison, at 31 just one year older than Arthur, was sent to prison this week for a total of eight months for assault and drink-driving charges. Peter Hadden, Arthur's pastor, is unwell. They are in his thoughts and in his words as he prepares to face Nicky Cook over a scheduled 12 rounds at the MEN Arena, Manchester, tomorrow night.

Arthur was brought up, in a boxing sense, alongside Harrison who won a world championship at featherweight before his world started to crumble under the pressure of depression and alcohol.

"It breaks my heart. I pray for Scott. I pray for Scott all the time. It really does upset me," said Arthur. "I would like to dedicate this fight to Scott and to my pastor who is unwell."

Arthur, of course, has had a difficult journey to the meeting with the solid, durable Cook. The church has played a prominent part in his growth as a boxer and a personality.

"I started to go to church when my dad went to prison," he says simply. These visits fostered a deep faith and an interest in boxing because of the club attached to the church.

"I studied boxing from a wee boy and saw how boxers went by the wayside and lost everything they had," he continued. "I am just not going to allow that to happen. I always believe that God has kept me on course. I believe that with all my heart.

"Things were never easy growing up. My dad was a violent criminal and caused a lot of trouble for me and all my family. Since I became a successful young amateur boxer, he has gone completely straight and I believe that was God working there as well."

Arthur is not complacent, however. He believes in giving God a hand. "I grew up in a one-bedroom flat and now I have a three-bedroom house in Newington with a Mercedes in the driveway," he said. "Every day you have to get up and remember how you got that. I got that because I sweated and bled like an animal."

This sweating is highly pertinent to events tomorrow night. Arthur struggled to make the weight for his fight against Steve Foster last December. However, as he sprang from his seat at the pre-fight press conference he was congratulated on his condition by Jim Watt, the former lightweight champion of the world. "He's a guy you have to look up to in Scottish boxing because, let's be honest, we've failed miserably in the past with lifestyles, fame and money," said Arthur of Watt. "Jim is the only one to succeed and succeed royally. Every time I see him he looks better and that is going to be Alex Arthur one day. No messin' about.

"I am a good living guy, married, stable, Christian, good family man and I have put a lot of hard work and dedication into my career and I believe I will reap the rewards for that."

The Edinburgh boxer said he believed he now had to lose just more than 2lbs for today's weigh-in and was confident that would not be a problem.

Arthur is a big man for the 9st 4lbs limit and his drastic reduction to make the weight undoubtedly contributed to a poor performance against Foster.

"I was in a sauna training every day with a suit on," he said of preparations for the Meadowbank Stadium fight. "I was having to get carried out the ring every day."

The Arthur fight is top of the bill with the Scottish boxer following Amir Khan and Breidis Prescott into the ring. The Olympic silver medallist faces a Colombian who is unbeaten and with an impressive record of knockout victories (17 in 19 contests). Frank Warren has not made his fortune by pitting his boxers against superior opposition but Prescott should test Khan's chin if not his stamina.

But Arthur v Cook remains the main event. The Scot knows he could be on the threshhold of enduring financial security if he dismisses the challenger from Dagenham.

The Scot respects Cook's professionalism and durability but did he have any Christian compassion for Cook?

"I would bash my granny once I am in the ring," he said, before displaying a fiery faith. "I will get the win. There is no doubt about that. I am going to win the fight."

Cook, then, is left without a prayer.