BoxRec

Murray fought a great fight tonight, fast, powerful, aim was on lock down, and great stamina, ddin't even look tired at any point.

Just as I was losing abit of interest in him aswell, but he's right back on track now, I'd pick him over Khan I think... but I think my mind will change daily on that one.. but for today, i think Murray could take Khans shots but Khan couldn't take Murrays.

Congrats to Murray on a great performance. Murray-Khan? BRING IT ON! This fight must happen now - forget building the fight etc...too many potential great fights fall by the wayside because promoters believe they need to build the fight.

black panther wrote:Congrats to Murray on a great performance. Murray-Khan? BRING IT ON! This fight must happen now - forget building the fight etc...too many potential great fights fall by the wayside because promoters believe they need to build the fight.

let it simmer. any top notch promoter would. whatever they would make now, they would make way more in the future. both have world class promise, so let it happen at the world level.

Just imagine if Khan-Murray negotiations drag on...and on...and on. Mick Hennessy maybe doesn't keep Murray busy, in case he bruises up, cuts, or whatever that will risk the TV date. Murray goes into a Khan fight with months of inactivity...you never know, this could happen. He's been allowed to go stale before the Fewkes fight, which was a very dangerous fight.

Murray can be a star in his own right. When he is, then the fight is worth more.

Thus far, Mick H has failed to get his fighter in with a Warren star. Last time, with Thaxton-Khan, Warren wouldn't even go via purse bids.

To be honest, I don't think this fight is going to get much bigger then it is already..

Only way it gets bigger is if both go to America. get world titles and stay unbeaten, and lets face it.. one of them would of lost by tha point most likely.


Going to America and fighting one or 2 so so fighters, is hardly going to get Americans much more interested, and certainly not us.


I say get it on now.

HairyBoxe24 wrote:To be honest, I don't think this fight is going to get much bigger then it is already..

Only way it gets bigger is if both go to America. get world titles and stay unbeaten, and lets face it.. one of them would of lost by tha point most likely.


Going to America and fighting one or 2 so so fighters, is hardly going to get Americans much more interested, and certainly not us.


I say get it on now.

Seconded. Its a very intriguing fight and at this early stage it wouldn't wreck either mans careers. It would also hopefully encourage undefeated fighters to take tough fights in this country.

If one of them had a world title, they would get paid a lot more.

Anyway, aren't ppl being optimistic? Hennessy & Warren haven't been able to work together thus far. Hennessy wants to get a Warren star on a Hennessy bill. Warren wants/has to control any event with his big names.

It would take something massive for them to compromise.

Also, Khan almost got run over by Michael Gomez. Smaller, older, slower than Murray. Same kind of pressure style. If Khan is WBO#2, is Warren going to risk that, for a British & Commonwealth title fight? Murray looked as good as Romanov tonight, potentially even better, and Khan has been kept away from Romanov.

Boxing is different to what it was. In the 90s, Benn and Watson fought for the Commonwealth. ppl would fight each other early career. Now the sport is far more of a ruthless bidness. Everyone is aware of what they are worth, what they will be worth, etc etc.

Anyway, Brilliant work from Murray. I figured Gallagher would have a good plan, that Murray would apply it, and win big. Joe woud not offer a big pick when I asked him - they obviously just worked hard, got on with it, did the job. Great to see them do well. They've taken stick of recent, and it's good to see that ppl all of a sudden think Murray is good enough to beat Khan.

Hennessy and crew didn't look overjoyed, at ringside. Must have been hard for the class of 2002 guys to see Meager get such a bad beating, but no one seemed to look pleased to have a star in the lightweight division.

I think Murray beats Khan; I'd just be shocked to see the fight happen so early in both lads' careers, with the sport (I mean business) being the way it is.

Amen to that. Every time I've talked to Murray, he brings up Thaxton. He's bent on that fight. They have a great subplot, i..e settling the British title which Jono gave up. Fingers crossed Thaxton does well vs Melero - though I don't think he wins - to make it bigger. Murray could win over the Hatton fans if Murray-Thaxton is promoted in such a way - though that might be embarassing for Mick, who promotes Witter!

Have to Tip Murray... Thaxton hasn't looked good since the Meager fight.

That is a good result, well done John Murray lets see if he can sustain that level of performance.

Without wanting to pour cold water on things, Murray had to be expected to do that sort of thing if he is even going to get to British title level. Meager as brave a fighter that he is, was one who was in the twilight stages of his career.

I'd really like to see Murray develop along the european root now he is a good fighter but still a bit raw and the more experiance he gets hopefully the more consistent he will become, he is a pressure fighter but has increadably clean work too.

Khan isn't going to happen until one has a world title, however I don't think Murray should be rushed to a title I think he should build on this experaince and be aiming at fighting every 3 months and going for a title shot around the end of next year in 4 or 5 fights time.

Well fatboy, the message from Team Murray was that if they were given the fights, the level of performance would go up. Or risk going stale without the big fights. You can't fight the same level of guys and watch your stablemates fight for British and European belts and keep a high level of performance on undercards.


great point Josh. Murray really has something and DEVELOPMENT is the key word. He can be developed vs a southpaw (Thaxton), a sharp technician (Limond), a mobile boxer (Fewkes), a rugged brawler (Gethin). I'd love to see things move gradually, from domestic to Euro, and maybe Yuri Romanov down the line.

It's all there for him, and the British title is the key. Guys like Meager and Thaxton can improve Murray's European rating.

Murray-Khan is a life and death fight for both lads right now. Murray has been demanding a British title shot for the past eight months. Surely it would be a bad move to risk it vs Khan, in the FIRST DEFENCE. And Khan struggles badly under pressure - is Amir going to fight someone better, faster, younger and stronger than Gomez, with a WBO title in sight?

There's a lot to overcome, different TV, different promoters. Good to see that ppl believe in Murray all of a sudden. But the more performances Murray gives like that vs Meager, the bigger Murray gets, the more money he generates.

BAMBI wrote:hahahahh @ the williams vs Mcdermott promo!!

That was pure comedy.

I am giving Murray full credit for his performance against Meager, lets not take anything away from that.

But do not run away with things here, its only a fight ago many of you very knowledgable boxrec posters were stating Murray's performance was either lack lustre or not worthy of such lofty ambitions or hype that has been banded around.

Meager was not and never has been a concusive puncher and in addition he is also easy to hit. what got Meager as far he has was his sheer guts and determination, I do not think anyone here thought Meager was anything other than domestic class and so that leads to only one conclusion that Murray should have disposed Meager in the way he did.

Hennessy has no choice but to step Murray up in class now, if Murray comes through the first couple of those tests then I and anyone else will have to concede Murray is back on track and ready to fulfil the hype that once surrounded him.

I don't think there ever was any hype. I agree, Meager was made for him, allowing Murray to show his full artillery inside. Great - we know Murray's an excellent infighter. Now, would like to see him hunt down some nifty boxers, take on a variety of styles, get even better. An excellent infighter needs to be able to cut the ring down very efficiently - there are fights where Murray will have to pressure some very mobile, elusive targets.

There are still doubters harking back to the previous fight. The struggle with Hamidi, when John got spoiled by the spoiler after Fewkes pulled out. Many said Fewkes would have beaten Murray. So give Lawton (who beat Hamidi a week later) a working over to erase that. Lawton won't turn down a British title fight, probably. Give Fewkesy a title shot, beat him, and this will get rid of the remaining doubts. I agree with this, there are still more ppl to convince and there are fights out there that Murray can learn valuable lessons in.

I`m sure Khan also would have looked excellent against Meager .. but for me - Murray showed solidness, patience and accuracy, and good punch variety.
Maybe Khan would win the early rounds against Murray because of his fast combo`s - but I wouldn`t expect many of these to get through and none to actually wobble or worry Murray - where as the counters Murray would land would have Khans legs going all jelly on him - Khan is open to the counter right-hand just like Meager was last night.

Meager - as said - showed real courage and grit to absorb what he did.

John Murray looked absolutely massive in there against Meager. Murray just walked through everything Meager had to offer.

I suppose thats what a fired-up Murray fights like - very impressive strength and pretty much relentless.

I will be very interested to see how Khan responds to that performance.

If Murray had a Euro title, anyone think he'd catch Arthur or Mitchell coming up to lightweight?

One of those guys will have to move up to 135 soon & would probably have nowhere else to go if Murray had domestic and Euro belts. And would give Hennessy a better shot at bagging a Warren fighter.

IMO you have to save the big fights for the next level. i.e. Thaxton/Fewkes at domestic. Arthur/Mitchell at Euro (they are big super feathers who won't stay at that weight). Khan at world level.

Don't forget Frankie Gavin either. He's a lightweight isn't he? He will come to the pros with Khan-like attention, if all goes well.

As Mr Warren likes to say, "Let's wait and see."

I still think on styles Fewkes (or another good boxer-mover) would give Murray problems.

I agree. An infighter will have his head taken off by Murray. Whereas a fleet footed mover will give him some problems. I'd like to see how Murray deals with that.

So, tonight's Andrew Murray v McDonagh could meet Murray? Are they N Ireland or Eire (in other words are they eligible for the British title?)

Counter-puncher wrote:I still think on styles Fewkes (or another good boxer-mover) would give Murray problems.

Prior to last night's fight I thought exactly the same - but I just didnt realise how big Murray is at the weight.

Murray does look a touch one-dimensional but if you are that big and strong you can grind down your smaller opponents (assuming that you can catch-up with them). Murray-Thaxton would be a blood bath

possibly liam- if those smaller opponents are prepared to stand in front of you or if you give them no choice. I know everyone keeps on about the Al Hamidi fight but I was at ringside and Murray seemed to have problems when he couldn't get his feet set.

put it this way if i absolutely had to bet on murray-fewkes i would just about pick murray but as the outsider fewkes would be well worth a few quid

I have to say the one weakness I saw was his lack of mobility. He is a very flat footed fighter, and this is going to make life difficult as he moves up in class aginst slicker operators.

Lots of very nice things though, nice tight guard, quick and fluid punching, and natural effortless punchpower, and also puts those shots together well and with quite amazing accuracy.

Remind me of Cotto at times.

Good performance by Murray but i think some people are getting too carried away.
I'm pretty sure Khan would have won against Meager impressively too.However ,I doubt he would have got the same credit e.g Meager is shot and didn't come to fight etc

I would like to see how Murray does against Fewkes and winner of Thaxton-Melero before being sold on him!!