John Murray (boxer)
| John Murray | |
|---|---|
 Murray in 2009 | |
| Statistics | |
| Rated at | Lightweight |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Reach | 70 in (178 cm) |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
20 December 1984 Manchester Greater Manchester England |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 36 |
| Wins | 33 |
| Wins by KO | 20 |
| Losses | 3 |
John Murray (born 20 December 1984) is a British former professional boxer. He is a former English and European lightweight champion, a three-time British lightweight champion, as well as a world lightweight title challenger. John is the brother of British former Olympian Joe Murray.[1]
Professional career
Murray's first professional fight took place in September 2003 with a 4 round points win over journeyman Peter Buckley. Over the next two years Murray was busy in the ring scoring 15 more wins in 15 fights before in December 2005 defeating Ignacio Mendoza for the WBC World Youth lightweight title. He made one defence of his title against Moebi Sarouna and scored decent wins over Ben Odamattey and Lorenzo Bethea before defeating Dean Hickman at the Ice Arena in Nottingham for the English title. In October 2006 he was awarded the prestigious young boxer of the year award at a ceremony held in London, an award previously held by the likes of Ricky Hatton, Frank Bruno and Barry McGuigan.[2]
British Champion
Following the Hickman victory, Murray fought twice more against journeyman opponents before meeting Salford boxer Lee Meager for the vacant British lightweight title in July 2008. He won the belt after the referee stopped the fight in the 5th round. Following the fight Meager, a promotional stablemate, announced his retirement.[3] The first defence of his title was made on 17 January 2009 at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan. Murray managed to keep hold of the belt after scoring an 8th round stoppage over Aberdeen's Lee McAllister.[4]
Murray's second defence of the title on 13 June 2009 against Stoke fighter Scott Lawton ended before it had even begun when Murray weighed in for the contest 2oz overweight. Despite efforts to get down to the lightweight limit, Murray was unable to shift the weight and was stripped of the belt.[5] The contest with Lawton still went ahead and resulted in a sixth round stoppage for Murray ensuring that he was still undefeated but no longer a champion.[6] As punishment for failing to make the weight in a championship contest Murray, his trainer Joe Gallagher and his manager Mike Marsden were each fined £1500 by the British Boxing Board of Control.[7]
Murray reclaimed the belt on 3 October 2009 after scoring a fourth round stoppage against former British and European champion Jonathon Thaxton at the Altrincham Leisure Centre.[8] He had his fourth official British title fight on 7 May 2010 against Welsh boxer Gary Buckland this time in Widnes. The fight was also for the vacant European title and resulted in an 11th round stoppage win for Murray who was also able to keep his Lonsdale Belt for good.[9] Murray having won the belt outright chose to vacate in order to defend his European crown with Gavin Rees winning the vacant title against John Watson on 6 November 2010.[10]
European Champion
Murray made the first defence of the European title on 25 September 2010 against the Ukrainian boxer Andriy Kudryavtsev at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan. Kudryavstev had previously fought for the title in 2009 losing to Anthony Mezaache in 12 rounds and had held a number of titles including the Ukrainian national title and the European External Union title.[11] Murray wore down his opponent to score a 9th round stoppage after a high tempo contest. Speaking after the fight Murray said that he knew the fight would be tough after watching Kudryavstev on tape and said that now he wanted to fight the top guys in the lightweight division saying he'd love a "world title shot before Christmas".[12] Murray's next fight however was to be on 2 April 2011, traveling to London's York Hall to defend against Spanish champion Karim El Ouazghari. Both fighters were warned and deducted a point during the fight which Murray eventually won on points over the 12 round distance.[13] The fight against El Ouazghari was Murray's first since joining up with promoter Frank Warren and was described by some as a "scrappy" performance. Murray summed up by saying "It wasn't my best fight, it was like having my debut again. I have cleaned up at domestic and European level and I am looking at moving on".[14] Warren himself said that he'd like to see a fight between Murray and Kevin Mitchell in the future saying "the fans would like to see, but the bottom line is that John is the champion and it's all about what he wants to do."[14]
Kevin Mitchell fight
Murray vacated the European belt in order to fight Kevin Mitchell who was not eligible to challenge for the title due to suffering a loss in his preceding fight with Michael Katsidis. Murray's trainer Joe Gallagher said that John should have been fighting for a world title but as the fight wasn't mandated then beating Mitchell would be a sure way of getting noticed.[15] Mitchell himself had said that the fight represented a "last chance saloon" for him as the fight with Katsidis had resulted in a third round stoppage. Mitchell had cited "personal problems" as having marred his preparation for that fight.[16] The two met at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on 16 July 2011 with Murray suffering a first career defeat via stoppage in the 8th round.[17] Mitchell had hurt Murray in the 7th round and finally scored a knockdown in the 8th before the referee stepped in to call a halt to the fight in what was described as a "superb" contest.[17]
World title shot
On 7 October 2011 it was confirmed that despite a first career defeat in his previous fight Murray would take on Brandon Rios for the WBA Lightweight title on 3 December in New York City. Murray lost the fight by TKO in 11th round However, Ríos was overweight and was subsequently stripped of his title and had to pay Team Murray $20000 from his purse. The vacant WBA Lightweight title is only able to be won by Murray.
Boxing record
| 33 Wins (20 knockouts, 13 decisions, 0 disqualification), 3 Losses, 0 Draws[18] | |||||||
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Rd | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 33–3 |  Anthony Crolla |
TKO | 10 (12) | 19 April 2014 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 33–2 | John Simpson |
TKO | 2 (10) | 1 March 2014 | Scottish Exhibition Centre, Glasgow, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 32–2 |  Michael Escobar |
TKO | 4 (6) | 22 November 2013 | Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester United Kingdom |
|
| Loss | 31–2 |  Brandon Ríos |
TKO | 11 (12), 2:06 | 3 December 2011 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, United States |
For vacant WBA lightweight title, which could only be won by Murray as Rios stripped for not making weight. |
| Loss | 31–1 | Kevin Mitchell |
TKO | 8 (12) | 16 July 2011 | Echo Arena Liverpool, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 31–0 |  Karim El Ouazghari |
UD | 12 (12) | 2 April 2011 | York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 30–0 |  Andriy Kudryavtsev |
TKO | 9 (12) | 25 September 2010 | Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 29–0 | Gary Buckland |
TKO | 11 (12) | 7 May 2010 | Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, Cheshire, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 28–0 | Jon Thaxton |
TKO | 4 (12) | 3 October 2009 | Leisure Centre, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 27–0 | Scott Lawton |
TKO | 6 (12) | 13 June 2009 | Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 26–0 | Lee McAllister |
TKO | 8 (12) | 17 January 2009 | Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 25–0 | Lee Meager |
TKO | 5 (12) | 11 July 2008 | Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester], United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 24–0 |  Youssef Al Hamidi |
TKO | PTS (8) | 10 May 2008 | Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 23–0 |  Miguel Angel Munguia |
UD | 10 (10) | 7 December 2007 | MGM Grand Las Vegas, United States |
|
| Win | 22–0 | Dean Hickman |
TKO | 4 (10) | 9 November 2007 | Ice Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 21–0 | Lorenzo Bethea |
TKO | 7 (10) | 5 May 2007 | MGM Grand Las Vegas, United States |
|
| Win | 20–0 |  Ben Odamattey |
TKO | 5 (8) | 20 January 2007 | Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 19–0 | Billy Smith |
UD | 6 (6) | 6 October 2006 | Goresbrook Lesiure Centre, Dagenham, Essex, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 18–0 |  Mouibi Sarouna |
UD | 10 (10) | 15 September 2006 | Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 17–0 | Billy Smith |
TKO | 6 (6) | 12 July 2006 | York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 16–0 |  Ignacio Mendoza |
TD | 8 (10) | 2 December 2005 | Ice Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 15–0 | Tyrone Wiggins |
KO | 4 (8) | 29 October 2005 |  Lac Leamy Casino, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada |
|
| Win | 14–0 |  Azad Azizov |
TKO | 3 (8) | 23 September 2005 | George Carnall Leisure Centre, Davyhulme, Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 13–0 | Johnny Walker |
UD | 6 (6) | 6 August 2005 | St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, United States |
|
| Win | 12–0 |  Mounir Guebbas |
UD | 8 (8) | 8 July 2005 | Leisure Centre, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 11–0 | Karl Taylor |
UD | 8 (10) | 6 March 2005 | Tara Leisure Centre, Shaw, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 10–0 |  Harry Ramogoadi |
TKO | 4 (4) | 9 December 2004 | Acton Court Hotel, Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 9–0 | Daniel Thorpe |
TKO | 2 (6) | 26 November 2004 | Leisure Centre, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 8–0 | Ernie Smith |
UD | 4 (4) | 31 October 2004 | Tara Leisure Centre, Shaw, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 7–0 |  Dariusz Snarski |
TKO | 2 (6) | 24 September 2004 | Ice Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 6–0 | Anthony Hanna |
UD | 4 (4) | 2 June 2004 | National Ice CentreIce Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 5–0 | John Paul Ryan |
TKO | 1 (4) | 12 March 2004 | Ice Arena, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 4–0 | Norman Dhalie |
TKO | 2 (4) | 30 January 2004 | Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, Essex, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 3–0 | Jason Nesbitt |
UD | 6 (6) | 21 December 2003 | Reebok Stadium, Bolton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 2–0 | Matthew Burke |
KO | 1 (4) | 18 October 2003 | MEN Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom |
|
| Win | 1–0 | Peter Buckley |
UD | 4 (4) | 6 September 2003 | Leisure Centre, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom |
|
References
- ↑ Sheehan, Pat (2008-08-07). "Joe king of ring; Beijing Olympics". The Sun.
- ↑ "Murray joins boxing greats" Manchester Evening News
- ↑ Murray beats Meager The Sun
- ↑ "Murray retains lightweight title" BBC Sport
- ↑ "Murray loses time on the scales" Boxing News
- ↑ Murray maintains unbeaten record Sporting Life
- ↑ "Murray hit by £1500 fine" Manchester Evening News
- ↑ BBC Sport | Murray reclaims British title
- ↑ BBC | Murray stops Gary Buckland to win European crown
- ↑ "Rees hopes for European title tilt" BBC Sport
- ↑ Andriy Kudryavstev professional record Boxrec
- ↑ Sky Sports | Solid defence for Murray
- ↑ "Murray extends winning run" Sky Sports
- 1 2 "John Murray happy to face Kevin Mitchell on route to world glory" The Telegraph |
- ↑ Trainer Talk : Joe Gallagher Boxrec
- ↑ BBC Sport | Mitchell admits that fight against Murray is last chance
- 1 2 "Kevin Mitchell stops John Murray in 8th round" BBC Sport
- ↑ Professional record of John Murray .
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jonathon Thaxton Vacated |
British Lightweight Champion 11 July 2008 – 13 June 2009 Stripped |
Succeeded by Himself Second reign |
| Preceded by Himself First reign |
British Lightweight Champion 3 October 2009 – 6 November 2010 Vacated |
Succeeded by Gavin Rees |
| Preceded by Anthony Mezaache Vacated |
European Lightweight Champion 7 May 2010–2011 Vacated |
Succeeded by Gavin Rees |