This guy's got some beautiful boxing skills, he can apply good pressure (even if he lacks a punch), and uses his reach really well. I think he's got Irish titles at 135 and 140-lbs. He would fit nicely on the British, Commonwealth & Euro scenes.
But, few of his fights are televised in Ireland. He's 26 years old, and his career seems to be going slowly. There's loads for him at lightweight and light welter (IMO). He's a very correct fighter, and he has a nice win over McDonagh.
But when's he going to be moved toward a major title? Things are looking really slow, for such a talented fighter.
Andrew Murray
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ApolloCreed
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 398
- Joined: 03 Mar 2008, 13:42
Re: Andrew Murray
Murray's power has improved since he moved home, he has had a couple of stoppages. He also totally outclassed McDonagh and proved that he has plenty of stamina in going ten rounds.
He was badly managed for a long time but he's getting there. Rumour has it that he was offered the Khan fight at short notice but turned it down because he hadn't sufficient time to prepare. It will be good to see where he goes now, there is talk of a fight with Oisin Fagan before the end of the year and I reckon he'll have a European title shot by the end of '09.
He's in tremendous shape and has all the skills (was a three-time Irish amateur champion before turning pro having just missed out on the Olympics i think).
He was badly managed for a long time but he's getting there. Rumour has it that he was offered the Khan fight at short notice but turned it down because he hadn't sufficient time to prepare. It will be good to see where he goes now, there is talk of a fight with Oisin Fagan before the end of the year and I reckon he'll have a European title shot by the end of '09.
He's in tremendous shape and has all the skills (was a three-time Irish amateur champion before turning pro having just missed out on the Olympics i think).
Re: Andrew Murray
Yeah he's a terrific boxer. Understandable, turning down a late notice fight like that. I'd like to see him in the mix with Thaxton, John Murray, Khan.
I saw his stoppage vs De Jesus. It was a bogus stoppage as the visitor got counted out after taking a low blow. The ironic thing is that A Murray was really battering the guy, and was probably en route to a legit stoppage. His punching was really clean that night.
Which is his ieal weight, lightweight or light welter?
I saw his stoppage vs De Jesus. It was a bogus stoppage as the visitor got counted out after taking a low blow. The ironic thing is that A Murray was really battering the guy, and was probably en route to a legit stoppage. His punching was really clean that night.
Which is his ieal weight, lightweight or light welter?
Last edited by Autobarn on 05 Oct 2008, 09:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Arnie
- Heavyweight
Re: Andrew Murray
Very dood fighter. I trained with him when he was Am and new how talented he could become.
Re: Andrew Murray
he says nhis best weight is lw. His last few fights have been covered in ireland, but is not well known as a couple of his fights were short and not much has been seen of him, I would like him to have a couple of more fights and then go looking for titles.
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ApolloCreed
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 398
- Joined: 03 Mar 2008, 13:42
Re: Andrew Murray
Definitely a lightweight, won all his amateur senior titles at LW.
Quite big at that, but small enough at light welter
Quite big at that, but small enough at light welter
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slapbangwhallop
- Heavyweight
Re: Andrew Murray
yeah he is a big lad and a natural Lightweight imo. Plenty of talk about a fight with him and Fagan and although I initially said that Fagan would win this fight, after seeing both of them up close I have reversed that impression. Murray is twice the size of Fagan and although I dont think he would stop him he would win by a wide margin.
Also it would be hard for him to fight for a British or Commonwealth title unless the border has moved to emcompass yet another county of Ulster.
Also it would be hard for him to fight for a British or Commonwealth title unless the border has moved to emcompass yet another county of Ulster.
Re: Andrew Murray
Don't mean to thread hijack but Paul Hyland suffered his first pro loss in America at the weekend. What happened there?
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TerribleTerry
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5272
- Joined: 29 Aug 2003, 12:30
Re: Andrew Murray
I dont know anything about that particular match Steve but it is true to say that many a British/Irish fighter has slipped on a banana skin over in the US.steve689 wrote:Don't mean to thread hijack but Paul Hyland suffered his first pro loss in America at the weekend. What happened there?
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that prelim/8 round fighters over there tend to be better schooled/more versatile than their British counterparts (in the broadest of terms). The sparring out there is more diverse and, as a result, the fighters are often times better equiped than our lads.
A 7-4-1 record fighter from a boxing hotbed like Puerto Rico fighting in and around the Philly area is most likely a fair bit tougher/better schooled than his British equivalent I would say..
Re: Andrew Murray
May I ask what about his management was so bad? He won all his fights!
Re: Andrew Murray
Is that what you define good management by ?Mickey H wrote:May I ask what about his management was so bad? He won all his fights!
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jamesmcdonnell
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 45229
- Joined: 12 Nov 2003, 06:11
Re: Andrew Murray
Saw Murray fight against Gosset on a Mickey Helliet show, think I said in the report that he was the finest technical boxer I'd ever seen live for a novice. Absolutely superlative skills and shot selection, all that was missing was a bit of power, but if he is coming along in that department, he could be quite a fighter.
Needs to get a bit of a move-on in his career - needs a bit of a following. Campaigning at lower weights it is always hard to build a domestic following, but a few more stoppage wins, and he should do ok.
Needs to get a bit of a move-on in his career - needs a bit of a following. Campaigning at lower weights it is always hard to build a domestic following, but a few more stoppage wins, and he should do ok.
Re: Andrew Murray
I agree, he has brilliant technique. It's a pleasure watching him fight, because he sets his feet properly and throws his shots correctly. Those 2 recent stoppage wins weren't proper KOs though. De Jesus and Lothian, I mean. One was counted out after a low blow, and the other had some kind of injury I think.
Re: Andrew Murray
You're quite correct Autobarn, but sandwiched in between those wins was another stoppage victory in Letterkenny over Juris Ivanovs. That was an impressive KO as he used the combinations and shot selection to poleaxe his man. I was at the fight and he finished the job well.
Murray is a very well schooled technician and is improving his power; with a bit more experience he could well be European title level. It's a shame he's not eligible to fight for something along the lines of a British title or an equivalent. It's such a good level to help gauge how good these fighters could be, and what they need to work on.
Murray is a very well schooled technician and is improving his power; with a bit more experience he could well be European title level. It's a shame he's not eligible to fight for something along the lines of a British title or an equivalent. It's such a good level to help gauge how good these fighters could be, and what they need to work on.
Re: Andrew Murray
I missed that one.
Re: Andrew Murray
Feature I wrote on Andy for the Anglo Celt, local paper in Cavan, a few weeeks ago.
He is a gentleman, very modest and a sound fella. It will eb interesting to see how far he can go.
Modest Murray Boxing Clever
Having captured the Irish lightweight title back in July, Cavan's quietly-spoken champ Andrew Murray, one of the hottest prospects on the pro scene, is gunning for a European title shot.
Paul Fitzpatrick
[email protected]
PETER MCDONAGH is running his mouth at a press conference on a humdrum Friday morning in Dublin. “I broke his jaw in sparring”, the London-based Galwegian snorts. “Murray is afraid of me”. His manager Mark Roe chips in. “Peter is a powerful puncher”, he warns gravely. A few feet away across the top table, Andy Murray smiles, shakes his head. Welcome to the wacky world of professional boxing.
“I wouldn’t be talking the way he was, that he was going to do this and that,” says Murray of last July's Irish lightweight title bout which the Cavan man won on points to claim his second Irish belt. “I knew what I was going to do but I kept it to myself, I knew I was going to win it comfortably and that’s what happened. He likes to get under your skin, that’s his tactic. He’s a typical cockney fighter, he is all show and tries to get the edge on you but I just kept a cool head and let him talk away. I did my talking in the ring”
Not for Murray, then, the “trash talking” and bluster of pre-fight build ups. The soft-spoken Cavan man approached the McDonagh match, as always, with furrow-browed concentration. His comprehensive points win was just reward for the two months of intensive preparation he had put in.
“It depends on how long the fight is but if it was a ten-rounder I would be happy with eight weeks training. You’re talking twice a day for five days a week, once a day on Sundays and I usually take Saturday off. It would be a case of seven mile runs in the mornings and then sparring, circuits and pad work in the evenings. I usually have to travel to Dublin to get good quality sparring before a big fight as well.”
The incessant slog and the battle to make weight behind the scenes is the aspect of the show that boxing fans often forget amidst the razzmatazz of big fight nights, but the reality is that a boxer's life is a spartan existence. It is said that if making weight for a fight isn't hell then, well, you are boxing in the wrong division.
“I've heard that alright, a lot of people say that and there are not too many boxers who don’t struggle to make the weight, or anyone who is in a sport like judo, or jockeys – they all have to struggle to make weight when they are at the top level,” says Murray, whom RTE's Mick Dowling described as “an obsessive when it comes to training”.
“You just have to work hard in the gym, pound the roads and watch what you’re eating. It takes discipline in your diet and you have to know how your body works. You learn how to do it over the years. It’s not easy but you know what you have to do. You’d hate to go into a fight struggling at the weight, it would show straight away if you have cut corners.”
As the holder of two of Irish straps at present, Murray faces a tricky decision as Boxing Union of Ireland rules state that a fighter may only hold one national belt at a time.
“I’m training away, there is no set date for a fight just yet but I’m hoping mid or late November. I possibly could be defending the Irish title but I’m not too sure yet what’s coming up,” says the Ard na Greine native.
“They’ll ask me what belt I want to defend because I’ll obviously have to give up one so I think I’ll stick with the last one I won, the lightweight (9 st 7). It’s harder to make but I’m a big lightweight and I’m strong at that weight too so it’s not too bad. At light welterweight (10 st) I would consider myself a wee bit small at the weight.”
Murray was an interested observer of British hope Amir Khan's sensational first round KO at the hands of little-known Colombian Breidis Prescott last Saturday night, given that he was offered the chance to get into the ring with the much-hyped Bolton 21-year-old a few weeks before the fight. Team Murray turned down the chance, with the fighter's old amateur coach Brian McKeown claiming that the conditions, and presumably the purse, just weren't right at this time for what he defined as “a career-defining fight”.
“There are no certs in this game, it was only 30 seconds of a fight we saw and you wouldn’t know what would have happened if it had gone a couple of rounds, he was just unlucky to get caught cold and was up against a banger. Who’s to say that Amir Khan wouldn’t have knocked him out in two or three rounds if he hadn’t been chinned in the first?,” says Murray, who turned 26 last week.
“When you’re going to fight Khan or anyone like that, you need proper preparation and I didn’t feel it was the right fight for me just yet. There is no point taking it early in your career and something bad happening because you’d have to start from square one again. It’s back to square one for him too. I don’t know why he took that fight, he lost a small fortune over that I’d say.”
Boxing is booming in this country at present, with the professional scene having been rejuvenated by Meath businessman Brian Peters and the amateurs surfing the crest of a wave, with three medals coming home from Beijing last month. Much has been made of the groundbreaking High Performance programme which produced those three medallists, Darren Sutherland, Kenny Egan and Paddy Barnes, and while McKeown has criticised the programme in the past for producing boxers cloned to the computer scoring system, resulting in a dilution of natural punching power, his protogé feels that the system gave him a good grounding for the pro ranks.
“I know all the lads up there and they are really hard trainers, especially Kenny Egan,” says Murray. “It is a totally different game in the pro's but when you’re boxing at a high level such as in the High Performance Unit, you pick up a lot of experience and it stands to you. If you’re a good boxer you will be well able to adjust to professional boxing. I had my chance and I just wasn’t good enough on the night when I went to the Olympic qualifiers in Croatia, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. I didn’t fancy hanging around four years because there’s nothing to say you would be Irish champion and even get your chance to qualify, so I went professional.”
Most shrewd observers reckon that Murray, described by one commentator as “a slick box fighter with every shot in the book”, has what it takes to reach European level at least. To get there, he will need to extend his 13-fight unbeaten run and look to improve the quality of the opposition, with Tallaght brawler Oisin Fagan, a former Irish champion who is now based in Oklahoma, being mentioned for his first defence later this year.
“I reckon I would be a few fights away from it [a European title shot] yet, I’d like to pick up a bit more experience so that when it comes to that level, I won’t be just thrown into the deep end, I’ll be ready for it,” claims the father-of-one.
“It could be Fagan next or a couple of tougher fights down the line. He is tough and strong and very, very fit and you would have to be fit yourself to keep him off you. He comes at you and he’s a strong lad, but I'm not getting carried away, I'm taking each one as it comes.”
McKeown, the man who discovered Murray and moulded him into a Four Nations and three-time Irish champion in the vest, plays a huge role in the lives of all his fighters.
“Brian has been there since God knows, the '80's, and every year he is pulling champions out of the club, three or four every year without fail. He is totally dedicated and has put in the time and effort over the years that people don’t see. In any sport, the most successful teams and individuals put in the hours, and they get their reward.”
With his attitude, Murray's ultimate reward won't be long in coming.
He is a gentleman, very modest and a sound fella. It will eb interesting to see how far he can go.
Modest Murray Boxing Clever
Having captured the Irish lightweight title back in July, Cavan's quietly-spoken champ Andrew Murray, one of the hottest prospects on the pro scene, is gunning for a European title shot.
Paul Fitzpatrick
[email protected]
PETER MCDONAGH is running his mouth at a press conference on a humdrum Friday morning in Dublin. “I broke his jaw in sparring”, the London-based Galwegian snorts. “Murray is afraid of me”. His manager Mark Roe chips in. “Peter is a powerful puncher”, he warns gravely. A few feet away across the top table, Andy Murray smiles, shakes his head. Welcome to the wacky world of professional boxing.
“I wouldn’t be talking the way he was, that he was going to do this and that,” says Murray of last July's Irish lightweight title bout which the Cavan man won on points to claim his second Irish belt. “I knew what I was going to do but I kept it to myself, I knew I was going to win it comfortably and that’s what happened. He likes to get under your skin, that’s his tactic. He’s a typical cockney fighter, he is all show and tries to get the edge on you but I just kept a cool head and let him talk away. I did my talking in the ring”
Not for Murray, then, the “trash talking” and bluster of pre-fight build ups. The soft-spoken Cavan man approached the McDonagh match, as always, with furrow-browed concentration. His comprehensive points win was just reward for the two months of intensive preparation he had put in.
“It depends on how long the fight is but if it was a ten-rounder I would be happy with eight weeks training. You’re talking twice a day for five days a week, once a day on Sundays and I usually take Saturday off. It would be a case of seven mile runs in the mornings and then sparring, circuits and pad work in the evenings. I usually have to travel to Dublin to get good quality sparring before a big fight as well.”
The incessant slog and the battle to make weight behind the scenes is the aspect of the show that boxing fans often forget amidst the razzmatazz of big fight nights, but the reality is that a boxer's life is a spartan existence. It is said that if making weight for a fight isn't hell then, well, you are boxing in the wrong division.
“I've heard that alright, a lot of people say that and there are not too many boxers who don’t struggle to make the weight, or anyone who is in a sport like judo, or jockeys – they all have to struggle to make weight when they are at the top level,” says Murray, whom RTE's Mick Dowling described as “an obsessive when it comes to training”.
“You just have to work hard in the gym, pound the roads and watch what you’re eating. It takes discipline in your diet and you have to know how your body works. You learn how to do it over the years. It’s not easy but you know what you have to do. You’d hate to go into a fight struggling at the weight, it would show straight away if you have cut corners.”
As the holder of two of Irish straps at present, Murray faces a tricky decision as Boxing Union of Ireland rules state that a fighter may only hold one national belt at a time.
“I’m training away, there is no set date for a fight just yet but I’m hoping mid or late November. I possibly could be defending the Irish title but I’m not too sure yet what’s coming up,” says the Ard na Greine native.
“They’ll ask me what belt I want to defend because I’ll obviously have to give up one so I think I’ll stick with the last one I won, the lightweight (9 st 7). It’s harder to make but I’m a big lightweight and I’m strong at that weight too so it’s not too bad. At light welterweight (10 st) I would consider myself a wee bit small at the weight.”
Murray was an interested observer of British hope Amir Khan's sensational first round KO at the hands of little-known Colombian Breidis Prescott last Saturday night, given that he was offered the chance to get into the ring with the much-hyped Bolton 21-year-old a few weeks before the fight. Team Murray turned down the chance, with the fighter's old amateur coach Brian McKeown claiming that the conditions, and presumably the purse, just weren't right at this time for what he defined as “a career-defining fight”.
“There are no certs in this game, it was only 30 seconds of a fight we saw and you wouldn’t know what would have happened if it had gone a couple of rounds, he was just unlucky to get caught cold and was up against a banger. Who’s to say that Amir Khan wouldn’t have knocked him out in two or three rounds if he hadn’t been chinned in the first?,” says Murray, who turned 26 last week.
“When you’re going to fight Khan or anyone like that, you need proper preparation and I didn’t feel it was the right fight for me just yet. There is no point taking it early in your career and something bad happening because you’d have to start from square one again. It’s back to square one for him too. I don’t know why he took that fight, he lost a small fortune over that I’d say.”
Boxing is booming in this country at present, with the professional scene having been rejuvenated by Meath businessman Brian Peters and the amateurs surfing the crest of a wave, with three medals coming home from Beijing last month. Much has been made of the groundbreaking High Performance programme which produced those three medallists, Darren Sutherland, Kenny Egan and Paddy Barnes, and while McKeown has criticised the programme in the past for producing boxers cloned to the computer scoring system, resulting in a dilution of natural punching power, his protogé feels that the system gave him a good grounding for the pro ranks.
“I know all the lads up there and they are really hard trainers, especially Kenny Egan,” says Murray. “It is a totally different game in the pro's but when you’re boxing at a high level such as in the High Performance Unit, you pick up a lot of experience and it stands to you. If you’re a good boxer you will be well able to adjust to professional boxing. I had my chance and I just wasn’t good enough on the night when I went to the Olympic qualifiers in Croatia, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. I didn’t fancy hanging around four years because there’s nothing to say you would be Irish champion and even get your chance to qualify, so I went professional.”
Most shrewd observers reckon that Murray, described by one commentator as “a slick box fighter with every shot in the book”, has what it takes to reach European level at least. To get there, he will need to extend his 13-fight unbeaten run and look to improve the quality of the opposition, with Tallaght brawler Oisin Fagan, a former Irish champion who is now based in Oklahoma, being mentioned for his first defence later this year.
“I reckon I would be a few fights away from it [a European title shot] yet, I’d like to pick up a bit more experience so that when it comes to that level, I won’t be just thrown into the deep end, I’ll be ready for it,” claims the father-of-one.
“It could be Fagan next or a couple of tougher fights down the line. He is tough and strong and very, very fit and you would have to be fit yourself to keep him off you. He comes at you and he’s a strong lad, but I'm not getting carried away, I'm taking each one as it comes.”
McKeown, the man who discovered Murray and moulded him into a Four Nations and three-time Irish champion in the vest, plays a huge role in the lives of all his fighters.
“Brian has been there since God knows, the '80's, and every year he is pulling champions out of the club, three or four every year without fail. He is totally dedicated and has put in the time and effort over the years that people don’t see. In any sport, the most successful teams and individuals put in the hours, and they get their reward.”
With his attitude, Murray's ultimate reward won't be long in coming.
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TerribleTerry
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5272
- Joined: 29 Aug 2003, 12:30
Re: Andrew Murray
Great to see Murray impressing so many.
Thats the thing with Cavan men - they make great fighters!
Thats the thing with Cavan men - they make great fighters!
Re: Andrew Murray
Nice read Paul, well written.
Andy was out at the Ulster Junior Novice Championships in Coalisland there a few weeks back, helping out Brian McKeown with the kids. He looked to be in fairly good shape, he was in good spirits and was warmly welcomed by all there.
I like to see Pro boxers putting that wee bit back into the Ama boxing circuit, it kids the kids something to aim for and work towards, esp a good role model like Murray. It is always a pleasure to bump into Andy Murray.
Andy was out at the Ulster Junior Novice Championships in Coalisland there a few weeks back, helping out Brian McKeown with the kids. He looked to be in fairly good shape, he was in good spirits and was warmly welcomed by all there.
I like to see Pro boxers putting that wee bit back into the Ama boxing circuit, it kids the kids something to aim for and work towards, esp a good role model like Murray. It is always a pleasure to bump into Andy Murray.
Re: Andrew Murray
Any idea who the next opponent is?
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slapbangwhallop
- Heavyweight
Re: Andrew Murray
Mickey he went over a year without a fight in 2006 - at his age that cant be good.Mickey H wrote:May I ask what about his management was so bad? He won all his fights!
Re: Andrew Murray
Andrew sounds like a good lad.
If he was to fight Vs Fagan, it would be a "BATTLE OF THE NICE GUYS".
DD
Fagan is a elementary school teacher and really involved in helping dis-advantaged kids.
I almost don't want either of them to lose :-) But Fagan is my boy and while I think Murray is more skilled and bigger, I've never seen toughness like Fagan has, so I think Murray will be up against it.
Good match for sure... may the best man win...
If he was to fight Vs Fagan, it would be a "BATTLE OF THE NICE GUYS".
DD Fagan is a elementary school teacher and really involved in helping dis-advantaged kids.
I almost don't want either of them to lose :-) But Fagan is my boy and while I think Murray is more skilled and bigger, I've never seen toughness like Fagan has, so I think Murray will be up against it.
Good match for sure... may the best man win...
Re: Andrew Murray
While the shot that De Jesus was counted out from was low it wasn't a finisher. The reason the Brazilian stayed down was because he was getting worked over and would of genuinely have been gone in the next round or two. Murray was catching him with clean hard shots.Autobarn wrote:I agree, he has brilliant technique. It's a pleasure watching him fight, because he sets his feet properly and throws his shots correctly. Those 2 recent stoppage wins weren't proper KOs though. De Jesus and Lothian, I mean. One was counted out after a low blow, and the other had some kind of injury I think.
Lothian went into the fight with a shoulder injury and retired with a shoulder injury. Lothian's a tough guy so I'm not sure if Murray would of stopped him.
At European level Andrew isn't going to be a puncher anyway even if he is improving, but once he has enough pop to be respected he'll be okay.
I hope the Murray v Fagan fight happens sooner rather than later, it's a mouth watering clash and it's delay in taking place is only holding back both fighters. Wait too long and the winner will probably have to worry about Dean Byrne aswell.
Re: Andrew Murray
Oh I agree, he was battering De Jesus. The shots were clean, and he was hurting the guy to head and body. That's why it's such a shame the ref counted when De Jesus was down from the low blow.