By Adam Fillingham:

Last Weekend

European lightweight champion John Murray under whelmed fans last weekend with a unanimous decision victotry over Spaniard Karim El Ouazghari. Throughout the fight Murray’s work looked very forced and the Mancunian appeared fairly fatigued by round two. This could all have been due to the ring rust of having seven months out of action, or it could be down to Murray just blatantly underestimating his Spanish foe. John is usually fairly heavy handed in his fights but El Ouazghari seemed to take Murray’s punches with ease and was able to throw his own combinations back at Murray.

Myself along with the vast majority of fight fans and experts thought that Murray would easily walk through Karim El Ouazghari but unfortunately we were wrong and John had to grind out a tough points decision. So where does Murray go now? In my opinion Murray should fight Kevin Mitchell and Gavin Rees before stepping up any higher in class (providing both fighters keep winning) and if the European champion gets past those two we should see him in a world title bout.

My final Card – 117 – 112 to John Murray

Also on the card that I had the pleasure of watching was unbeaten prospect Billy Joe Saunders Vs Turgay Uzun a German/Turkish journeyman. Uzan looked like he wasn’t up for the fight as soon as he entered the ring which surprised me due to him winning four on the bounce previous to this bout. The bell rang and Saunders got to work and looked fantastic. Billy had great speed, looked energetic, kept on his toes, stayed relaxed and had decent power. Saunders knocked Uzan down with a solid right hook in the last few seconds of the round and although the Turk got to his feet he never looked like he wanted to continue, signaling the ringside doctor to call off the fight. Uzan had damaged his ear.

Finally Ryan Walsh took on the tough Scotsman Gavin Reid in an eight round bout, knocking him out in the seventh. Walsh really went for broke in the first round and I’m surprised he kept the work rate up all the way until the seventh. Walsh’s stamina, speed, determination and resilience looked fantastic but his punch power could come under question. Ryan knocked Reid’s head back many times in the fight and still couldn’t stop him, or even knock him down until the seventh. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s my perspective.

This weekend

This Saturday Frank Maloney brings us his latest exciting card which includes unbeaten Stuart Hall’s third defense of his British title against once defeated John Donnelly. Donnelly is coming down from featherweight to bantamweight to fight for the British title so hopefully the challenger from Liverpool will not come into this fight weight drained. Although Donnelly has only lost one fight in thirteen bouts I just cannot see him winning this one. John has fought very little in the way of good opposition and still has a defeat on his record. Stuart Hall, even with fewer fights on his record, has fought the higher crop of opposition such as Ian Napa and Gary Davies, in the process defending his British title twice. I believe Hall has Donnelly’s number this Saturday.

Prediction – Stuart Hall wide UD

Quick News

David Haye has told 5 live that Wladimir Klitschko is fit and ready to fight him. After speculation that his brother Vitali may have to jump due to Wladimir’s injured abdominal muscle, which caused him to pull out of his anticipated fight with Derek Chisora.

Carl Froch’s next defense of his WBC super middleweight title is now set in stone for June 4th at Atlantic City in the USA. Froch is though to be disappointed due to 3 of his last four world title fights being in America. Carl was hoping to get the fight in Nottingham (his hometown) and even offered a quarter of a million pounds to not fight in America but unfortunately Showtime would not budge.

Replacing Matthew Macklin on the undercard of Amir Khan Vs Paul McCloskey is the intriguing match up between young Tyson Fury and ex heavyweight champion of the world Hasim Rahman. This fight could have just made this undercard a whole lot better.

Former world heavyweight champion Herbie Hide has appeared in court in Norwich charged with rape. The 39 year old has been charged with raping a woman between the 1st and 7th of November 2010.

Welsh WBO light heavyweight title challenger Nathan Cleverly is planning six more fights before retiring. The British, Commonwealth and European champion is hoping for a series of super fights before retiring after six more bouts.

Former European middleweight champion Darren Barker is confident of his chances if he gets the chance to take on world middleweight champion and number three ranked P4P fighter Sergio Martinez. Barker said, “I know some people might think I’m bonkers even saying his name in the same breath as mine, but I fancy I could cause a mad upset, I really do.”

After pulling out of his WBA world middleweight title eliminator with Armenian Khoren Gevor, former European champion Matthew Macklin has been given his shot at the big time against WBA world champion Felix Sturm. Gevor has also been handed a world title shot against WBO champion Robert Stielglitz.

If John Simpson is to win his next fight against local hero Stephen Smith then the Scotsman may gain a world title shot for the vacant IBF featherweight title.

Matthew Hatton is in the process of lining up his second world title shot in sixth months. Hatton promotions are trying to set up a fight with WBA interim welterweight champion Souleymane M’baye. Matthew lost his last world title bout against Saul Alvarez.

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