BoxRec

Murray and Thaxton ready to get it on

John Murray will get an opportunity to win back the British Lightweight title he lost outside the ring when he meets Jon Thaxton in Altrincham, Greater Manchester on October 3rd. The mouth watering domestic dust up will hand Murray the chance to regain the title he surrendered on the weighing scales in June when he failed to make the 9 stone 9 pound lightweight limit by just 2 ounces ahead of a planned defence against English champ Scott Lawton.

The fight went ahead but without the Lonsdale belt on the line and Murray scored an impressive sixth round stoppage win over Lawton. Now the two best Lightweights in Britain will square off with former British and European Champ Jon Thaxton contesting the vacant title with Murray on a Hennessy Sports event at the Altrincham Leisure Centre on October 3rd.

The news comes during a week in which Murray was also named as the mandatory challenger for Anthony Mezaache’s European title. Mezaache took the title from Thaxton courtesy of a controversial points win in February and a surprise defeat by Tom Glover up at Welterweight in Thaxton’s last outing has seen Murray overtake his domestic rival in the European ratings.

Promoter Mick Hennessy has now handed them the opportunity to decide once and for all who is the best Lightweight in Britain. “This is one of those domestic fights that will have people on the edge of their seats,” said Hennessy.

“They are two of the most exciting fighters in British boxing and this really is going to be a thriller. John Murray is one of the most exciting talents to emerge in British boxing in years and he’s on the verge of very big things on the European and World stage.

“You write Jon Thaxton off at your peril though. His defeat to Tom Glover last time out was up at Welterweight, two weights out of his natural weight division and the Mezaache fight was a controversial decision. Jon’s a huge puncher and people have been writing him off for years and he keeps coming back to rip up the script and usually in spectacular style.

“Jon is only one win away from winning a Lonsdale belt for keeps and I know that’s a real driving force for him in this fight so there is so much on the line for these two guys.”

What is the point in this fight now? Murray is Maazache's mandotary why not fight him? Thaxton doesnt have it any more so if it does come of an easy KO victory for Murray I say a 5th round stoppage

alexpaterson wrote:What is the point in this fight now? Murray is Maazache's mandotary why not fight him? Thaxton doesnt have it any more so if it does come of an easy KO victory for Murray I say a 5th round stoppage

Better late than never. Will also be a good win on Murray's record if he wins. No pleasing some people

Unfortunetly i think Thaxton is in for a very painful night...

im a massive jono than but i think he's in an irreversable slide

It will be a war while it lasts, Murray in 7

Similar to Macklin bareker, but in reverse. macklin has gone for the euro title instead of cleaning up domestically, whereas Murray has gone for thaxton and will wait for his euro shot.

Bring it on I say.

Good fight! I reckon Murray wins it, but it's far from a foregone

at last.

murray on pts or maybe a cuts stoppage.

Murray on points. Will this be on ITV?

HS Press wrote:Murray and Thaxton ready to get it on

John Murray will get an opportunity to win back the British Lightweight title he lost outside the ring when he meets Jon Thaxton in Altrincham, Greater Manchester on October 3rd. The mouth watering domestic dust up will hand Murray the chance to regain the title he surrendered on the weighing scales in June when he failed to make the 9 stone 9 pound lightweight limit by just 2 ounces ahead of a planned defence against English champ Scott Lawton.

The fight went ahead but without the Lonsdale belt on the line and Murray scored an impressive sixth round stoppage win over Lawton. Now the two best Lightweights in Britain will square off with former British and European Champ Jon Thaxton contesting the vacant title with Murray on a Hennessy Sports event at the Altrincham Leisure Centre on October 3rd.

The news comes during a week in which Murray was also named as the mandatory challenger for Anthony Mezaache’s European title. Mezaache took the title from Thaxton courtesy of a controversial points win in February and a surprise defeat by Tom Glover up at Welterweight in Thaxton’s last outing has seen Murray overtake his domestic rival in the European ratings.

Promoter Mick Hennessy has now handed them the opportunity to decide once and for all who is the best Lightweight in Britain. “This is one of those domestic fights that will have people on the edge of their seats,” said Hennessy.

“They are two of the most exciting fighters in British boxing and this really is going to be a thriller. John Murray is one of the most exciting talents to emerge in British boxing in years and he’s on the verge of very big things on the European and World stage.

“You write Jon Thaxton off at your peril though. His defeat to Tom Glover last time out was up at Welterweight, two weights out of his natural weight division and the Mezaache fight was a controversial decision. Jon’s a huge puncher and people have been writing him off for years and he keeps coming back to rip up the script and usually in spectacular style.

“Jon is only one win away from winning a Lonsdale belt for keeps and I know that’s a real driving force for him in this fight so there is so much on the line for these two guys.”

The Lonsdale Belt was on the line for Lawton.

Is Murray ever going to make the leap from a leisure centre to the big stage at the MEN Arena? If Mick Hennessey wants to build him into a star then surely he's got to be fighting at bigger venues than the Altrincham leisure centre and the Robin Park in Wigan. Surely Murray must be getting frustrated with this, he's an exciting fighter and needs more exposure.

you've got amir khan fighting kotelnik and maybe another world champ bradley soon

now don't get me wrong, khan being an olympian gets the chances, etc

...and you have murray, being given a thaxton fight. when no one even cares about the fight anymore. when murray is top contender for european title, to boot.

i mean, what's going on?

A good fight, potentially, but it really will be a question of how much Thaxton has got left.

It's also telling that Thaxton is given a British title fight straight away, even after 2 losses on the bounce.

I wouldn't says his Mezaache loss was controversial, just close- such is the nature of this sport.

But yeah, an interesting fight- Thaxton always has his punch, it's just a question of if he can land heavily enough before Murray wears him down.

Very poor, Mick.

Agree with Whicker--there was nothing 'controversial' about Thaxton's loss (despite the maddening ITV commentary by a certain pundit from across the water). It was a close fight, but on my card, Thaxton lost...

This will be a painful night for Thaxton i fear. I think he could possibly turn back the clock and win this, he's got, or rather had the tools at one stage, but he looks to have lost a lot of his timing in his recent fights, and his workrate has dropped off too.

Even if he does win, I think Jono will look like he's smeared mustard on a grizzly bear's testicles and stood there waiting for the outcome.

Could be a goodun this, provided Jono isn't well on the slide.

HS Press...Ticket news or is it too soon?

I'll definitely be going as long as it's £30 ish, as it's local and Murray is one of my favourite fighters. Also Fury will probably be on the bill!

If Fury loses he wont be on the bill.

leforge wrote:If Fury loses he wont be on the bill.

Just realised he is only fighting 3 weeks before so probably won't be there. Nevermind!

Whats the point of this one?

well, not sure Thaxton deserves this opportunity given his defeat.... I know he's been a good champion - but there are others (IMO) more deserving of the shot... for example, Alex Arthur.

Murray in 4 (although I don't really rate him to be honest).

Thaxton can't fight any more than 3 rounds without blowing out of his arse.

Love to see him do it though....

Go on Jono

Finally makes the match when noone cares. Thats promotion for ya !! I hope they get paid well though, I think MH still has some coin left from his £5m Calzaghe fund

If Murray wins I would like to see him against the tough Mexicans like David Diaz etc

an ok fight now, but would have liked murray to have a euro shot against mazaache(sorry for spelling)on oct 3rd. Does anybody else think that hennessy is trying to keep murray down, for the reason when murrays contract is up with him he could be on his way to a different promotor, with the lonsdale and poss euro.