By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like the chances of WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO’s) fighting Britain’s Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11 KO’s) are about zero for November, as HBO wants the Golovkin vs. Murray fight to take place in the United States rather than in the UK, according to Steve Kim.
Steve Kim said on his twitter “I’ve asked reps of GGG, if they would face Murray in the UK. I’m told that HBO prefers he fight in the States in prime time.”
In other words, the Golovkin-Murray fight isn’t big enough for it to take place in the UK. If it were, HBO would definitely televise it just like they televised the recent Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler fight.
I can’t say I blame HBO for not being excited about wanting to televise Golovkin-Murray, because that mismatch won’t draw big numbers for HBO in terms of ratings. Murray is coming off of a loss to WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez last April where Murray did little more than cover up all night long and throw an occasional jab or slow right hand.
It was a dreadful performance, one of the most boring fights that you’ll ever see in your life. It was a textbook version of a safety first fight from Murray, as he seemed to refuse to let his guard down even for an instant to throw some punches. And that was against a 38-year-old Martinez, who is no longer at his best.
Just imagine what it would be like for Murray to be fighting a real puncher like Golovkin. I can see Murray putting up his turtle defense and refusing to let his hands drop to throw any punches. So why would HBO want to televise a fight like that from the UK?
Murray can’t just come to the U.S to take the fight because he’s got visa problems that likely won’t be ironed out anytime soon. This means Murray can’t come to the U.S, and if he can’t come to the U.S, then no fight with Golovkin.
It’s looking more and more like Golovkin will have to fight Curtis Stevens in November, and think that’s a much better fight for U.S boxing fans than watching Golovkin pound away at a fighter with his guard up the entire night like a glorified sparring partner.
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