By Nate Anderson Undefeated lightweight John Murray (25-0, 13 KOs) gave former BBBofC British lightweight champion Lee Meager (21-3, 8 KOs) a boxing lesson en route to totally obliterating him in a 5th round stoppage to win the vacant BBBofC British lightweight title tonight at the Robin Park Centre, Wigan, in Lancashire. After badly beating Meager for four one-sided rounds, Murray, 23, staggered Meager with three consecutive left hooks in the 5th round, two of which snapped Meager’s head back violently, causing for referee Howard John Foster to step in and waive off the fight at 2:20 of the 5th round.
The difference in talent was immediately clear in the first round, as Murray came out on fire, attacking the slower, less offensively talented Meager with relish. Murry spent the better part of the round hammering left and right hooks to the head and body. Near the end of the round, Murray began adding in right uppercuts that straightened up Meager who had been previously attempting to crowd Murray on the inside hoping to land some shots. Meager fired back with some good shots of his own in the round fighting gamely, but still showing that he didn’t have the armament to match to more active, more powerful Murray.
Murray came out fast in the 2nd round, firing a storm of left hooks to the head of Meager and not letting him get any punches in himself. After knocking his gum shield out, Murray slowed down a little, giving Meager a chance to finally land a few punches of his own. It didn’t last long, however, before Murray was once again throwing sustained flurries and backing Meager up around the ring. Like in the previous round, Murray really punished Meager in the last 30 seconds of the round with countless shots to the head.
In rounds three through five, Murray thrashed a beaten and worn-out looking Meager all around the ring, making him look much older than his 30 years. In the 3rd round, Meager tried to reverse the course of the fight, taking the action to Murray. However, Murray proved to be an excellent fighter backing up and was able to catch Meager frequently with shots to the head while in reverse gear. By the end of the round, Meager had cuts over both of his eyes, swelling on his right cheek and purple swelling under his right eye.
Murray fought somewhat slower in the 4th round, but no less as successful as he continued to punish Meager with left hooks to the head. At one point in the round, Murray turned southpaw and pounded him from the side as easily as he was from the orthodox side. Meager was getting close in this round, but not letting his hands go like he had earlier. In the 5th round Meager fought incredibly hard, coming forward constantly and throwing lots of punches.
Murray, though, landed the harder shots during this time, and began to tag Meager while he was loading up with his own punches. Finally, Murray tagged Meager with three consecutive left hooks, each of them snapping Meager’s head, staggering him in the process. The referee ignored the first two big left hooks from Murray, but after the third shot landed, the referee stepped in between the two fighters and stopped the fight at 2:20 of the 5th round.
Murray fought much better this time out than in his last fight in May, a bout in which he won a controversial decision over Youssef Al Hamidi. In the minds of many boxing fans, Murray lost the fight to Hamidi and was given a gift decision. Indeed, he appeared to lose the fight to the much busier Hamidi, who looked like he had won the fight by a minimum of two rounds at least.
The important thing for Murray, however, is that he appeared to improve immensely since that fight, and was much busier than he had been against the light-hitting Hamidi. That said, Murray’s job was mad much easier this time out due to fact that Meager looked completely shot in comparison to Murray, and was never even remotely competitive in the fight for a second.
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