BoxRec

JOHN MURRAY - John is now fully recovered from the bad head injury sustained during his last fight in December and will next box as chief support to Jamie Moore at Altrincham Leisure Centre on the 5th May 2006. John has opted to stay with Sky Sports despite efforts to move him to ITV , his manager Stephen Wood is delighted at the decision and informs us that the talks with the ITV people were all conducted behind his back.

ALI NUUMBEMBE - In appreciation of the good work Manager Stephen Wood has done over the last 9 months and as a reward for securing his Commonwealth mandatory position, Ali has asked to resign a new 3 year deal with VIP. This goes to show that there is some loyalty in this sport.

LIAM DORRIAN - The promising 21 year old from Salford has decided to fling the vest and turn pro with VIP . Liam was Amir Khans last opponent in the 2005 ABA,s and hopes to follow the winning start of fellow Mancunian Craig Watson who sensationally dropped Amir Khan in the fight before Liam . Both Liam and Craig will box on the Jamie Moore v Mathew Macklin under-card.

Any news on an opponent for Murray? Interesting that Frank was after him. At least I presume that's what was meant by ITV being after him.

Will Murray be making a defence of his youth title

states wrote:Any news on an opponent for Murray? Interesting that Frank was after him. At least I presume that's what was meant by ITV being after him.

Not sure on the opponent etc yet - as soon as I know I will get it posted.

With regards to the ITV thing, yes Warren is at ITV.......

Cheers Stegsie. Hopefully it's a good test, I'm a big fan of Murray.

states wrote:Any news on an opponent for Murray? Interesting that Frank was after him. At least I presume that's what was meant by ITV being after him.

It's no wonder , I reckon he is Britain's best prospect(yes even better than you know who) and SKY Sports have picked him up as their main prospect .

Murray has really impressed me so far (especially with his shot picking) and I have no doubt he can go far , really far .

Murray has really impressed me so far (especially with his shot picking) and I have no doubt he can go far , really far .

The kid is talented to say the least.

IMO he will go all the way - not being biased or anything, but the kid has the skills and with his recent decision, the brains too

It's good that he isn't afraid to travel either, recent trips to USA and Canada will be excellent experience in the long run. Hope Murray continues to improve, his win over Nacho Mendoza at such an early stage of his career showed his potential.

so has barry hearn signed him up. cos he was fighting on hennessy bills wasn't he???

Murray is approaching everyone or so I hear. Obviously he is not happy with VIP and is looking for more money. How can he meet with ITV anyway?

boxingchat wrote:Murray is approaching everyone or so I hear. Obviously he is not happy with VIP and is looking for more money. How can he meet with ITV anyway?

All this aside BC, what's your opinion of the bloke purely as a fighter?

Can you think of another sport where people employed by a major company try and unsettle sports stars tied to someone else on a website?

Yep, very blatant isn't it - but also very transparent.

Lenny Albert wrote:Can you think of another sport where people employed by a major company try and unsettle sports stars tied to someone else on a website?

Indeed, if other promoters were doing the same to SN fighters their lawyers would be straight on the case. Twats.

So who has he signed with if still on Sky Sports ? Matchroom seeing that it is there show.?

states wrote:

boxingchat wrote:Murray is approaching everyone or so I hear. Obviously he is not happy with VIP and is looking for more money. How can he meet with ITV anyway?

All this aside BC, what's your opinion of the bloke purely as a fighter?

Excellent prospect could be the best of the lot.

Lenny Albert wrote:Can you think of another sport where people employed by a major company try and unsettle sports stars tied to someone else on a website?

Football!!!

grim reaper wrote:So who has he signed with if still on Sky Sports ? Matchroom seeing that it is there show.?

Any fighter who signs with a Sky Pormter is on shaky ground. The rumour mill is rife with stories of them dropping UK boxing. Murray is right to be shopping around or he could be without a stage to show his talents. So far he hs fought on Hennessey, Matchroom and Hobson cards without any real promotion. He's got a reasonable if inexperienced Manager but needs some professional promotion behind him to take him to the next level.

I bet his earnings reflect his poor promotion as well.

If Sky are pulling out of British Boxing were would that leave the likes of Murray Haye Daws Odonnell. Is Murray going to be topping bills now surely not ? But if this rumour is true about Sky pulling out then you cant blame the kid for looking around.

grim reaper wrote:If Sky are pulling out of British Boxing were would that leave the likes of Murray Haye Daws Odonnell. Is Murray going to be topping bills now surely not ? But if this rumour is true about Sky pulling out then you cant blame the kid for looking around.

It's a very, very strong rumour in TV land. It will leave them and many others in a bad way. Hope is doesn't happen but it's looking likely due to the spate of cancellations and poor undercards of late. They cut their money down big time and are now complaining that quality of undercards is poor. Hatton is asking for a massive slice of their budget and is not delivering figures and that won't improve with 2am fights from the US. They lost nearly a Million on his last live fight and won't get stung again. They could buy a tape delay of HBO for a fraction of the live fee and still get the same, if not more viewers. What do they expect, In all walks of life you get what you pay for. This could have a massive impact on the sport in the UK and Sky, I believe, thought they could manipulate the market as the only player on the field. That was until Warren walked off and got ITV back in and know they have to put up of pull out or lose the best fights to ITV.

grim reaper wrote:So who has he signed with if still on Sky Sports ? Matchroom seeing that it is there show.?

May 5th is a Maloney Promotions show in association with VIP Promotions.

Boxers not with Warren who Sky can/have shown
Ricky Hatton, Clinton Woods, David Haye, Carl Froch, Jamie Moore, Graham Earl, Nicky Cook, Michael Hunter, Esham Pickering, Kevin Anderson, Young Mutley, James Hare, Gary Woolcombe, John Murrey, Anthony Small, Scott Dann, Richard Williams, Lee Haskins, Dale Robinson, Damean Kelly, Martin Power, Lee Meager, Billy Corcoran

I don't think the future has gone from looking bright to non existant so soon.

When Sky lose the monopoly on football (which is up for bids next year) they will surely have more budget to invest into other sports and ITV will need more budget to invest into football.

Just a thought.

Steve Bunce's article in BM this month makes grim reading, seems the SKY exit from Boxing is looking more likely. I would disagree on the undercard's being weak though, i have thought to myself on more than one occasion since Xmas that there have been some good, even fights on the SKY undercard's. I think there has been a marked improvement in the quality of fights lately and if i didn't read the trade magazines and come online i would have thought the SKY future seemed bright with lots of new talent being showcased. Shame they are thinking of pulling the plug on the whole thing.

But according to boxrec Schedule it is down as Matchroom.
Leisure Centre, Altrincham, Chesire, England
Date: Friday, 05th May, 2006
Commission: British Boxing Board of Control
Promoter: Matchroom Boxing


Light Middleweight Jamie Moore v Matthew Macklin 12
~ British Light Middleweight Title ~