Martin Murray interested in fighting Andy Lee on Martinez-Macklin undercard on 3/17

By Boxing News - 01/02/2012 - Comments

Image: Martin Murray interested in fighting Andy Lee on Martinez-Macklin undercard on 3/17By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten middleweight contender Martin Murray (23-0-1, 10 KO’s) is interested in fighting Andy Lee (27-1, 19 KO’s) on March 17th on the undercard of the Sergio Martinez vs. Matthew Macklin bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Murray, 29, recently fought to a controversial 12 round draw with WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm last month on December 2nd. A lot of boxing fans felt that Murray did more than enough to get the decision but was robbed. The fight took place in Sturm’s home country of Germany, where he’s only been beaten once in his career by Javier Castillejo by a 10th round TKO in July 2006.

Murray was unable to take the judges out of the fight and had to settle for letting the fight go to the cards. Since that fight, Murray has tried asking Sturm for a rematch but he’s been completely ignored. Fighting to a draw is pretty much the same as a loss, because Sturm retained his title and is now looking in another direction rather than facing Murray for a second time.

Murray told the Mirror.co.uk “I would definitely be open to fighting Andy Lee on March 17th, but it’s got to be worth it. Lou Dibella has put an offer in but it’s not right at all, so we’ve rejected it. I know that Andy is a world class fighter a trained by a world class trainer. I think me and him would make for a great fight…I’d love to fight in Madison Square Garden, and it would be a perfect opportunity for me to get noticed in America.”

Lee, ranked #1 WBO, #2 WBA, #6 WBC, is interested in facing Murray. However, for the fight to happen a better offer is needed to get Murray to take the risky fight. This is a tougher bout than the Sturm fight, because Lee can punch, has good hand speed and is young at 27. Murray was hurt by Sturm in the 12th round when Sturm came out firing bombs in their fight. Lee punches harder than Sturm and will be looking to KO Murray from the first round.
Lee had three quality wins in 2011, beating Craig McEwan, Alex Bunema and Brian Viera.

This would be a good fight for Murray if he wants to increase his visibility in the U.S. If he can pull off a big win over Lee, Murray would win over a lot of fans and would likely lead to some well paying fights.



Comments are closed.