(Martin Murray seen here hiding behind his clam-shell guard against George Groves) By Scott Gilfoid: If #2 WBA, #2 WBC middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) wants an opponent for his possible fight on September 10 on the Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight card, he might want to consider facing former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs), because he definitely wants to fight him.
Murray, 33, lost his last fight to super middleweight contender George Groves last June in losing a 12 round decision. Murray couldn’t pull the trigger on his punches, and got stuck hiding behind his clam-shell guard for 12 rounds like a good sparring partner.
I don’t know why but Murray thinks he’s got what it takes to beat Eubank Jr. Indeed, Murray sees himself as capable of beating all the middleweights except for Golovkin. It’s pretty wild stuff to think about Murray beating the likes of Daniel Jacobs, Peter Quillin, Curtis Stevens, Billy Joe Saunders or Tureano Johnson.
“Everyone keeps telling me they’d like to see me in with Eubank Jr and it’s a great fight I’d like to be involved in. I’m putting it out there that I’m ready and available if he wants to fight,” said Murray to skysports.com.
Well, let me be the first to say that I wouldn’t want to see Murray fight Eubank Jr. on September 10 or anytime in the future. If Murray never fights Eubank Jr, it’ll be too soon for me, because I don’t see that gawd awful fight. I think Murray royally blew it against Groves by not throwing punches and just covering up behind his high guard for the entire fight. It seems like Murray always fights this way when he steps it up a level against decent level opposition. When Murray is fighting fodder opposition, he goes into the attack mode like he’s another Golovkin.
It’s still academic that Eubank Jr. will be fighting on the undercard of the Golovkin-Brook fight. We know that Eubank Jr’s promoter Eddie Hearn is talking about that as a potential, but I would be very surprised if we see him on that card. I think it would be a huge distraction if Eubank Jr. fights on that card due to the fact that he was the one that was supposed to be fighting Golovkin next. If Eubank Jr. and his father Eubank Sr. had met the deadline set by Hearn for the negotiations, then we’d be seeing him facing Golovkin instead of Brook.
“Someone like myself – an experienced, strong middleweight, he’s not ready for,” said Murray about Eubank Jr. “He won’t fight me either, even though it’s a fight everyone wants to see. He won’t fight me, because if he does then he’ll lose and he’ll never get that Golovkin fight then.”
Is Murray kidding? Who the heck wants to see Eubank Jr. fight him? That would pure punishment to have to watch that fight. I don’t think Hearn should put the fans through such an ordeal like that. It would be a pure buzz-hill before the main event between Golovkin and Brook.