lurkyshaka wrote:I thought Murray did a good professional job on a teak tough opponent. Some of the punches Murray hit that crazy b*st*rd with would have folded many fighters in half, but Kudryavtsev kept coming and mentally never gave up even though he was behind all the way. Kudryavtsev point blank refused to be controlled, but was physically broken down. I enjoyed the fight, good entertaining battle where both men can feel proud of their efforts.
Lesser fighters than Murray may have panicked when their power didn't have a more immediate effect, or they might have settled for the points win. But Murray was single-minded in his pursuit of the stoppage and went about getting it the right way. Chipped away till he had his man wilting. Mature showing from Murray where he battled through the difficult moments to win well.
He does get hit a bit, but his style means he's never going to be Willie Pep. He likes to grind his oppositin down, but he can also box a bit aswell. His jab was useful last night.
Few decisions to make now....does he stay at 135 and wait for Soto? Or does he gamble and step up to 140 for an Ortiz fight? Its a tricky one. He's obviously chomping at the bit to step onto the big stage and an Ortiz fight in Vegas on Khan's undercard is the big stage. But he'd be rising in weight against a guy GB are grooming. John would be very firmly the opponent in that fight and not the guy GB would be hoping to win. He'd get no favours. But the cash would be good and if he could win then the world would be his oyster with a shot at a world title at either 140 or 135 surely there for the asking.
But a loss could be damaging and push him right back down the pecking order at lightweight.
Tough decision....think that decision should ultimately come down to how comfortable he feels at 135. If he's making the weight ok and feels strong there and expects to still feel strong there for at least the next year or so, then i think he should stay put. But if making lightweight is a major struggle then he might not have much to lose by going to 140 now, as he's likely to be kept waiting for Soto.
good points.
at 135 he'll probably have to win an elim to get a title shot.
at 140 he has to beat ortiz (probably twice) to get a shot at khan.
depends what weight he wants to fight at, feels best at.
maybe they can get the lightweight elim at home, but the title shot would probably be away from home, in mexico or america.
at light welter he's going to be on hostile shows. even one of the promoters, mosley, has sparred with murray and will be giving tips to ortiz. there seems to be a massive campaign to get ortiz back into the potential superstar frame because so much money has already been wasted in hyping him up. everything will be against murray, bigger opponents, a southpaw (ortiz) and a runner (khan).
i like lightweight best for murray, exciting fights vs hard nosed mexicans who can fight inside. seems more up murray's street, given his own style (which reminds me of jose luis castillo, patient, big, strong, chip away at the opponent).
the thing re soto is that the WBC champ has long been talking about going up to light welter. bet someone like antillon - good pressure fighter, maybe a bit soft by mexican standards - will be in the frame and that would be exciting.
it's his career so i don't think he should just jump to golden boy's tune. they've chosen him as the fall guy to ortiz, obviously. maybe he should do light welter in his own time and on his own terms.