BoxRec

John Murray fights Billy Smith for the 2nd time in 6 months tomorrow night, is this meant to be a joke?

Yeah but have you seen who Darren Barker has got? Paul Samuels. Where has he been? It's been nearly four years seen he was last in a ring, probably best remembered for his war against Wayne Alexander and his two tussles with Richard Williams. Interesting.

As I said in another thread Paul looked in very good shape today at the weigh-in!!

Yes, good write up and photos kev. Is the Barker v Samuels fight a ten rounder and is there a title on the line?

Thanks mate

They said 6 or 8 rounder, depending on time and no title

At the end of the day its close to Christmas and the fighters all need a few quid so a soft six rounder, whilst its going to do little for their development, will help em pay for this pricey time of year - I thought that would be obvious?

Still Paul Samuels culd be interesting - I thought he was retired and a trainer these days?

Lets hope he gives Barker a better arguement then 'Me, Myself and I' did!

Murray don't seem that well promoted or looking to go far with just small 6 or 8 rounders. Has he ever had a decent fight?

Murray has had decent tough fights (Mendoza) and fought over in the states and I defended the decision to fight Smith the last time considering his layoff and given that Smith will always give it a go.

Fighting him again though smacks of desperation. Surely they can find someone else to keep him busy?

can you imagine if they tried putting Khan in with Smith ?

there would be an uproar

and Murray is rated higher (pound4 pound) and is already supposed to british title level

Smith would be one of the best fighters Khan has fought so far imo. Plus Murray is two weight divisions south of Khan.

But yes Murray has moved way past this

It's a disappointment thats for sure. Hopefully some more meaningful fights will happen in 2007.

Can't believe anyone needs to ask if Murray has had any decent fights. Mendoza was probably too hard a match at that stage in John's career but he completed exceptionally well.

Lenny Albert wrote:Smith would be one of the best fighters Khan has fought so far imo. Plus Murray is two weight divisions south of Khan.

But yes Murray has moved way past this

Khan & Murray are exactly the same weight

Check the stats on this very site, both average about 137

Khan would have a chance to clown Murray if he can do the rounds. Murray looked too average on the Witter show and I thought Burns would of beaten him.

Max Molyneux wrote:Khan would have a chance to clown Murray if he can do the rounds. Murray looked too average on the Witter show and I thought Burns would of beaten him.

Don't forget that Murray would hit back though. Murray vs Khan at this stage (not that it would ever happen) would be by no means a walk in the park for Khan. I'd go so far as to say that Murray, to me, looks a more rounded pro at the moment, and I'd maybe tip him to win.

Murray has come through the harder tests, has been hit back and to me looks the far more rounded fighter.

Not a fan of Khan's piter-pat bursts, think Murray would be too much for him. Although I still say Khan is a bigger fighter (although I admit Murray isn't a superfeather and at the moment Khan isn't a welter).

Murray looked poor IMO, I would tip Mitchell to do him.

Also, I thought Darren Barker was VERY lucky to get a win vs Samuels. That should have been a no contest at best (for Barker) or a DQ win for Samuels.

Ref bottled it.

Murray looked ordinary. I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more to come though. 2007 should see him get back on track, still very young.


Re: Barker-Samuels. It all happended so quickly I was just as stunned as the referee. Disqualification probably should have been the correct decision, but I do believe Barker through the shot unaware of the referee's call. He'd just been knocked down and his back was against the wall and defending himself. Everytime I think I've seen it all, boxing throws up something new!

To be far to Murray he probably found it very hard getting up for fighting Smith again.

He was supposed to be fighting Burns a little while back, this must have been a disappointing step backwards

stujones wrote:Murray looked poor IMO, I would tip Mitchell to do him.

Also, I thought Darren Barker was VERY lucky to get a win vs Samuels. That should have been a no contest at best (for Barker) or a DQ win for Samuels.

Ref bottled it.

Agree with you on both points Stu. The latter was a shocking decision on the part of the ref and so cruel on Samuels. The ref's arm was even placed over Samuels right arm so he couldn't have defended himself properly even if he'd attempted to.

I got D.Q'd for doing a similar offence, but nowhere near as blatant, against Michael Jones the 2nd time, and it was the same ref!!!! Call the cops!!!!!!

livingstone cole wrote:What was the offence?

Moore's offence? He hit Jones after the ref had called break, I think I remember that the punch was already on it's way. Jones went down, but seemed like he could have continued. Big kafuffle, long and short of it, Moore dropped a DQ to Jones.

Jamie,

Do you think your decision and the Barker one should have been changed to No Contest after a review?

I still believe Jones could have got up and fought on he seemed to make a meal of it.. Maybe Moore-Jones 4 for the European title :-)

Kev

Yes I think they should have been no contests at the very least, but the difference with mine was that Jones DECIDED not to carry on, Samuels was out cold, therefore I think there was MORE reason to D.Q Barker, and more reason to call our fight a no contest. But hey, lets not moan about the past, at least I won the rubber match!!! And if Jones wins the European, then I would consider it, but only if the money was right. To my mind I've beaten him 3 times now, so I'd be fighting someone for the European who I've beaten 3 times!! Not much of a step up ey!

Thanks Jamie, I know before you were interested in adding the European belt to your collection thats why I asked

Yeah I understand your point mate, but it would just mean owning a belt rather than winning the European title.