Murray on a Mission

[HS Press]

Murray on a Mission

British Lightweight Champion John Murray has set himself a timetable that he hopes will see him in contention for a World title by this time next year. The undefeated Manchester talent makes the second defence of his title against Scott Lawton at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan on Saturday, June 13th.

The fight headlines a Hennessy Sports event which will be live on ITV4 and Murray hopes the fight will take him a step closer to keeping permanent possession of the famous Lonsdale belt and set up a mouth watering showdown with domestic rival Jon Thaxton for later in the year.

“This is a good chance for me to shine and it’s great to be back at the Robin Park Arena again,” said the 24-year-old. “I won the title against Lee Meager there last year and made my first defence there in January against Lee McAllister so I’ll be hoping for a hat trick of wins there against Lawton.

“It’s only down the road for me and I know my routine now going there so it’s been a good venue for me and hopefully it will stay that way.”

While there is talk of a fight with Thaxton and a possible European title tilt before the end of the year Murray insists he’s not looking past Lawton.

“I know Scott well, we sparred together a few years back so I know just how good he is and he’s probably improved since then,” warned Murray. “He’s a very good fighter and I know it’s a potential banana skin for me so I certainly won’t be taking him lightly and I’m focusing all my attention on him at the moment.”

Murray though doesn’t hide his desire to get in the ring with former European champ Thaxton in what would be a mouth watering domestic showdown. “That’s a fight I’ve wanted for a few years now so hopefully once I take care of Lawton we can finally get that one on. Hopefully the Lawton fight will really sharpen me up for that one because I know if I can get past him then the Thaxton fight will be on the doorstep.”

Murray believes that wins over Lawton and Thaxton would leave him in pole position for a crack at the European title. That belt is currently the property of France’s Anthony Mezaache courtesy of his points win over Jon Thaxton in February.

“To be honest when Mezzache beat Thaxton I didn’t want to let him out of the country because I’m desperate to have a crack at him,” said Murray. “I’d love a shot at the European title because winning that can open so many doors for you at World level.

“I’d be very confident of beating Mezzache and if I could finish the year as European Champ then I could start looking at a possible World title fight next year. None of that means anything though unless I get past Lawton so this really is a big fight for me next month.”

The undercard at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan on Saturday, June 13th will feature heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury, fresh from his second round destruction of Scott Belshaw at the weekend.

Joining Fury on the undercard will be his cousin Phill Fury (who made a successful pro debut on Saturday night) alongside the return of Light Welterweight contender Nadeem Siddique, hot Featherweight prospect Steve “Super Bad” Barnes and exciting Canadian puncher Andrew Singh Kooner.

Tickets are available from the Ticketline box office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.

[TheCobra]

He should have been in euro/world title fights by the end of THIS year. The Lawton fight proves absolutely NOTHING that he hasn;t already proved, the Thaxton fight will at least generate some money in itself but again won't prove that much at this point in his career. He needs to step up soon I can't believe he's still getting balgged along by Hennesy and hasn;t exploded.

[alexpaterson]

The Lawton fight is a waste of time (ill sound stupid if he loses now) but i doubt he will also Thaxton will be a tricky fight for Murray but i think he'll come through it and move on to bigger and better things would like to see him fight Meezache the guy who beat Thaxton but the LW scene is really good at the moment Murray will struggle but i think if Hennessy does it well he may make him a world champ IMO

[Autobarn]

lawton would have been a good quickie after mcallister. now it's basically to give murray another defence, so that when he fights thaxton, both he and thaxton are eligible to win the lonsdale belt outright. so the fight has definite purpose, but i think murray wanted this lawton fight months ago, on the thaxton-mezaache undercard. he didn't get it. it's not a great fight, but it serves a purpose, albeit a belated purpose.

[bigdaddy]

Hennesy has held john Murry back .. think Murry will leave Hennesy when his deal up and join the hattons with his brother hatton has sky tv i am told. Murry a class act so is joe

[Horse]

This is a decent stay busy fight. Murray hasn't beaten many better fighters than Lawton (if any), so this fight will be good for his experience.

If he ends up going on to beat Thaxton and Mezaache (if he is still EBU champion) by the end of the year then he would have had a very good year.

[TheCobra]

Why is Murray only fighting every 6 months? It really annoys me, I see a real potential talent up there with some of our other best potentials like Jamie Moore and yet John Murray is just stagnating when he is ready to step it up imo. I think the more they step him up the bettyer he'll get, defo stagnated at british level and one of these ticking over fights could undo his good work if he cant keep motivated.

[Autobarn]

This is a decent stay busy fight. Murray hasn't beaten many better fighters than Lawton (if any), so this fight will be good for his experience.

If he ends up going on to beat Thaxton and Mezaache (if he is still EBU champion) by the end of the year then he would have had a very good year.

well McAllister & Meager both won titles better than lawton has won.

[Horse]

well McAllister & Meager both won titles better than lawton has won.

Is the WBU title really any better than the English title? I would favour McAllister to beat Lawton, but I wouldn't be sure. Meager vs Lawton would be about 50-50 for me.

I don't think Murray has beaten anyone who is clearly better than Lawton.

[Tommy Gunn13]

Hennesy has held john Murry back .. think Murry will leave Hennesy when his deal up and join the hattons with his brother hatton has sky tv i am told. Murry a class act so is joe

Yes Murray has been held back&not moved forward,hes to easy to hit&takes far to many punches on his face...
I liked him but in my eyes hes going to end up getting beaten sooner,rather than later by somebody who on paper is not in his league!!

[Mowgli]

He{Murray}sparred with our Paul today,Paul was really impressed with him,he said he is really up for this fight,hope he does the business.

[whitey220783]

when murray joins hatton he will be world champ within 6 months

[Counter-puncher]

He{Murray}sparred with our Paul today,Paul was really impressed with him,he said he is really up for this fight,hope he does the business.

any news on when Paul will be back in the ring mate?

[Mowgli]

He{Murray}sparred with our Paul today,Paul was really impressed with him,he said he is really up for this fight,hope he does the business.

any news on when Paul will be back in the ring mate?

Early June mate,not sure about the opponent.

[Counter-puncher]

get him in with Akaash Bhatia

or maybe not for his first fight back... IMO he'd beat Bhatia though

[Autobarn]

well McAllister & Meager both won titles better than lawton has won.

Is the WBU title really any better than the English title? I would favour McAllister to beat Lawton, but I wouldn't be sure. Meager vs Lawton would be about 50-50 for me.

I don't think Murray has beaten anyone who is clearly better than Lawton.

I think Lawton has improved his stock with that Gethin win, and well done to him. But Meager is a former British champ who has stopped Dave Stewart - and I would say Stewart is considerably better than Lawton. McAllister has those 2 "world titles" (LOL) and a decent stoppage of Docherty, and I would favour McAllistet to outbox Lawton.

Meager-Lawton might be 50-50 now that Meager is retired following a Murray-bashing!

[Adamj1987]

what can you do lawton is next obvious challenger to murry and thaxton would really want a warm up win before fighting for british title sounds logical 2 em as long as the thaxton-murry fight (assuming he wins) is made quickly

[Poncey]

well McAllister & Meager both won titles better than lawton has won.

Is the WBU title really any better than the English title? I would favour McAllister to beat Lawton, but I wouldn't be sure. Meager vs Lawton would be about 50-50 for me.

I don't think Murray has beaten anyone who is clearly better than Lawton.

I think Lawton has improved his stock with that Gethin win, and well done to him. But Meager is a former British champ who has stopped Dave Stewart - and I would say Stewart is considerably better than Lawton. McAllister has those 2 "world titles" (LOL) and a decent stoppage of Docherty, and I would favour McAllistet to outbox Lawton.

Meager-Lawton might be 50-50 now that Meager is retired following a Murray-bashing!

Do you not think we're going through the same crap as he had to put up with 18 months ago of his career stagnating.

He's not getting the quality that he should get given his talent. 2 years ago all we heard from HS was that Khan was avoiding Thaxton. Now HS have the two best 135 fighters in the country and they're doing the same thing they accused FW of.

[Adamj1987]

it not the same thing because the fight could happen as both are under the same banner, the fight is being stalled till after the lawton fight for the reason mentioned above about winning the belt outright
thedifferenc is that FW never indeed for khan to fight for teh british title or anyone where they had a a 1/2 decent chance of winning i belive the kotelnik fight is there first time FW is taking a chance with Khan (presscott wasnt seen asa threat IMO)

[Autobarn]

I don't know. I mean, at least he has the British title. And at least the performances have been good, for the British title. But the inactivity isn't good and you can bet team Murray will have plenty to say about that, that won't make it into the press releases.

I know they wanted the Lawton fight on the Thaxton-Mezaache undercard, to keep Murray busy, to get closer to keeping the Lonsdale belt, and build up the European title challenge. But again it seems to be stop and go, no momentum, which hurts someone like Murray. Perhaps this is the price paid for the promoter putting on consistently solid shows - i.e. things move slowly, and good shows have to be rationed for TV.

IMO at least Thaxton fight is coming up, albeit minus his European title.

[Finch]

Murray on a Mission

British Lightweight Champion John Murray has set himself a timetable that he hopes will see him in contention for a World title by this time next year.

And if you weren't so busy wanking off over Fury he'd have had a title shot a lot sooner.

[Finch]

Why is Murray only fighting every 6 months? It really annoys me, I see a real potential talent up there with some of our other best potentials like Jamie Moore and yet John Murray is just stagnating when he is ready to step it up imo. I think the more they step him up the bettyer he'll get, defo stagnated at british level and one of these ticking over fights could undo his good work if he cant keep motivated.

Cos he's got fat boy Mick promoting him, too busy wanking off with Tyson Fury's dad.

[ArtOfWar]

The problem with all of Hennessy's fighters is that it takes Mick far to long to get them to where they are going. He does it the right way, just not nearly quick enough, because he doesn't have the promotional muscle. We've seen it with Witter and Froch and now we are seeing it with Murray.
His career has stalled badly in recent times. He's not fighting regularly and not against the type of opposition he needs to be in with.

[The_Don1]

Didn't Murray have clear the air talks with Hennessy recently? I reckon a win against Lawton (a no brainer) a Sept. defence against Thaxton, then an EBU title shot by the end of the year as is stated will get his career right back on track.

[Autobarn]

and all that fuss about Fury's body punching. John Murray is the best body puncher in the UK, along with Jamie Moore. Those 2 literally break opponents in half. Fury would learn a lot watching those 2.