By Sean McDaniel: After looking pretty mediocre in beating challenger Karim El Ouazghari (11-2-2, 4 KO’s) by an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night unbeaten EBU lightweight champion John Murray (31-0, 18 KO’s) expressed interest in either fighting for a world title or taking on Kevin Mitchell (31-1, 23 KO’s) next.

Murray’s promoter Frank Warren wants to get Murray back in action by July. It will be up to Murray to decide whether he wants to hold off on fighting for a title while he takes on Mitchell in a fight that many boxing fans want to see in the UK.

It would be a risky fight for Murray, because Mitchell appears to be the better fighter and could derail Murray’s chances of fighting for a title. There’s no guarantee Murray will be able to take on one of the lightweight champions next. Murray’s best bet is to go after WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios. If not him, then WBC champion Humberto Soto or IBF champ Miguel Vazquez. Murray’s chances of beating any of them would have to be considered slim based on how he looked last weekend in struggling to beat Ouazghari.

It might not be a good idea for Murray to fight Mitchell unless the money is better than what Murray will get in a title fight, because the chances of him losing to Mitchell are just too high to be worth it. If Murray loses the fight he can forget about a title shot for a long time to come, and Murray doesn’t have the ability to just go out and dominate a fighter like Mitchell.

Murray said this in an article at the telegraph.co.uk: “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, but if there is a fight there with Kevin Mitchell on the way to that, then so be it.”

Murray was caught repeatedly by left hooks from Ouazghari last Saturday night and showed little ability to move his head to get out of the way of shots. Murray also didn’t look particularly powerful or fast in that fight. To beat the champions like Soto, Vazquez or Rios, Murray has to show better skills than he did in the Ouazghari fight.