By Scott Gilfoid: At 31, fame has eluded British middleweight Martin Murray (27-1-1, 12 O’s) as he’s failed each time he stepped up to the plate against quality opposition. But he’s hoping that he can follow in the footsteps of fellow Brit Carl Froch by going outside of the UK to take fights against various opponents, and then return to sellout crowds the way that Froch did.
Froch become popular by taking part in the Super Six tournament, which matched him against fighters from the United States, Denmark and Germany. Froch did okay except for his fights against the talented Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell. Both of those guys beat him, but he was given a controversial win over Dirrell. After the Super Six ended in 2011, Froch was all of a sudden popular, even though he got beaten in the tourney.
“[Fighting outside of the UK] was Froch’s path and it’s looking like this is my path too. Everyone has their own path and I’m taking it as a positive, I’m flying all over the world and it’s a great pleasure doing something that I love,” said Murray. “It’s my journey and I’m loving it but the idea would be to come home as a world champion, like Froch, and sell out venues and arenas – that would be great. However, I’m under no illusions that that is what’s going to happen.”
I kind of doubt that Murray will become as popular as Froch without him picking up a belt and traveling to place like the United States to take on talents like Miguel Cotto, Daniel Jacobs, Gennady Golovkin and Peter Quillin. The reality is that Murray is going to need to come to the U.S or some other foreign country and go to war with one of the aforementioned fighters, and then emerge as the victor in those fights. But I really can’t see Murray beating any of them, and that’s the whole problem.
Yeah, Murray could get famous like Froch, but for him to do it without a Super Six tournament to assist him, he’ll have to do it the hard way by beating the best fighters in the weight class outside of the UK. If Murray could take at least 1-2 scalps from that list, he’d go along way towards becoming a hero in the UK. But unfortunately I can’t see him beating any of them.
Murray has had a hard time digesting his loss that he suffered at the hands of former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez last year. Instead of seeing it as a situation where he was beaten because he failed to throw enough punches, Murray still thinks he should have won the fight. Having seen that fight several times, I must say Murray got beat and fought like a sparring partner by hiding behind his clam shell guard for 12 rounds and doing little on offense.
“I don’t care what anyone says, the two losses on my record none of them were convincing. I’ve said the Sturm fight the decision was a draw but the Martinez fight I thought I won it,” Murray said.
As you can see, Murray is still bellyaching about his loss to Martinez, and it’s so, so sad. I mean, move on already, will you? You can’t live in the past.
“I’ve mixed it with two of the best middleweights over the past couple of years so I know I’m up there at the elite level and that I will eventually become a world champion and get my hands on the belt.”
Murray is about to turn 32, and he’s obviously not getting any younger. If he doesn’t pick up a strap pretty soon, then I think his window of opportunity will close forever.
Murray will be fighting Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Casino de Monte Carlo Salle Medecin, Monte Carlo, Monaco. If Murray loses to Bursak, it’ll set him back in a huge way in terms of him becoming a star in the UK.
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