BoxRec

Murray confident of making history, Pickering promising big things

Manchester’s John Murray is confident that he can make history on the Carl Froch vs. Ruben Groenewald undercard at the Nottingham Arena this Friday, whilst Esham Pickering hits the comeback trail confident of returning to title class.

Murray aims to become the first ever British fighter to win a WBC World Youth Title when he takes on tough Colombian Nacho Mendoza over ten rounds for the lightweight version of the Championship, which has never been contested before on domestic soil.

Whilst he appreciates he is in tough for a night, he is confident of claiming the Championship for under 23-year-old’s, designed to open up a path to full WBC honours.

“I have seen a bit of Mendoza. He looks like a handy kid,” admitted 21-year-old Murray, managed by Steve Wood and trained by Joe Gallagher. “He is big, looks very strong and has very fast hands.

“It’s going to be a difficult fight, but I will come through. It will take me a few rounds to work him out but then I think my strength will be too much for him.”

In October, Murray jumped at a last minute opportunity to provide the British interest on a card in Quebec. Despite only flying out to Canada a few days before the fight he stopped the tough Tyrone Wiggins in style to leave the locals cheering his name. He aims to impress again.

“I’ve got a sparkly new pair of shorts for the occasion, so I will put a bit of dazzle into my boxing to match!”

On the same undercard Newark’s former British, Commonwealth and European super bantamweight champion Esham Pickering returns from his contentious defeat to Michael Hunter in Hartlepool last month in what was arguably fight of the year. He will take on France’s Frederic Bonifai over six rounds.

“I wanted to get back into the ring as soon as possible after that defeat,” said the 29-year-old. “Whilst I thought I won I didn’t box to my full ability, so I want to get on with putting things right.

“After this I would like to have one more fight before a rematch against Hunter. I want to win my titles back. If he doesn’t want it again I will build back towards another world title shot. Either way I will be back up there, Esham Pickering is far from done yet.

“I would love for my future title fights to be at the Arena alongside Carl Froch. It’s a great venue and I love Nottingham. I am looking forward to boxing on this bill. It’s good to be home.”

“Cold-blooded predator,’ headlined by Carl Froch v Ruben Groenewald, takes place at the Nottingham Arena on Friday 2nd December. Tickets are available on 0870 121 0123. The undercard features a historical fight for the WBC Youth Lightweight world title between Manchester’s John Murray and Colombia’s Nacho Mendoza. For the latest bill please visit http://www.HennessySports.com.

Are ITV or Sky showing this card?

That Nacho sounds like a tasty opponent

Be interesting to compare and contrast with the Kevin Mitchell opponent, even though they are different weights. Murray I reckon is ahead in his development.

Murray seems to be being fed stronger opposition i think so yes he is ahead in his development. Of course putting fighters in with weak opposition very early on is not so bad but Mitchell is at the stage where he needs to be fighting stronger competition, if he keeps KO'ing poor fighters he won't learn a thing, Murray's last opponent on the other hand was a good learning fight and Murray dealt with him well.

johnswan1 wrote:Are ITV or Sky showing this card?

It's on Sky mate. Looking forward to seeing Murray, he's really impressed me this year.

it took me a while but i found some footage for murray of mendoza.

ps does the youth title look like the inc or the proper title?

REAL_DEAL wrote:it took me a while but i found some footage for murray of mendoza.

ps does the youth title look like the inc or the proper title?

Looks like this I believe

http://www.onzuka.com/Photos/Brian%20Vi ... 20belt.jpg


Did Nacho look like a scary opponent...Murray isn't going to get a case of the fa-jitters is he?

Murray V Brian Viloria??? 8)

steve689 wrote:Murray V Brian Viloria??? 8)

That's what google came up with 8) . Do you know anything about the lad Steve? He looks like he's got a decent record and Roach behind him. He's now the full champ but I suppose it's easier to get the shots at the lighter weights.

If you mean Viloria then yes i have seen him fight a couple of times, he was part of the 2000 Olympics team i think and nicknamed the Hawaiian punch. He knocked out a few guys early but then started going the distance more often, my first look at him was a tight majority decision win over Alberto Rossel and i wasn't particularly impressed. He did look better versus Angel Priolo who he stopped in seven last year, Priolo was 30-1. And in his last contest on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Velazquez/Morales-Raheem bill he scored a fantastic first round KO over Eric Ortiz to win the WBC Light Flyweight title, it was a real brawl until the end of the round and Viloria caught Ortiz with a left hook i think and knocked him down, Ortiz bravely tried to rise but the ref counted him out and Ortiz sort of did a chicken dance and fell over again.

Now your going to tell me you didn't mean Viloria aren't you???!!

steve689 wrote:If you mean Viloria then yes i have seen him fight a couple of times, he was part of the 2000 Olympics team i think and nicknamed the Hawaiian punch. He knocked out a few guys early but then started going the distance more often, my first look at him was a tight majority decision win over Alberto Rossel and i wasn't particularly impressed. He did look better versus Angel Priolo who he stopped in seven last year, Priolo was 30-1. And in his last contest on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Velazquez/Morales-Raheem bill he scored a fantastic first round KO over Eric Ortiz to win the WBC Light Flyweight title, it was a real brawl until the end of the round and Viloria caught Ortiz with a left hook i think and knocked him down, Ortiz bravely tried to rise but the ref counted him out and Ortiz sort of did a chicken dance and fell over again.

Now your going to tell me you didn't mean Viloria aren't you???!!

I did mean him I'll keep an eye out for him, I'm a big Morales fan so I won't be searching out the Raheem bill :(