By Scott Gilfoid: Britain’s Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11 KO’s) was supposed to be fighting 39-year-old journeyman Sergey Khomitsky (28-9-2, 11 KO’s) on the Carl Froch – George Groves card last Saturday night, but Murray suffered an illness and couldn’t take the fight. Now that Murray is better, he’s been rescheduled for the fight with Khomitsky with it being move to December 14th at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, London, United Kingdom. Like before, it’ll be 10 rounds.
On the same card heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua will face Dorian Darch in a bout scheduled for 6 round. Lightweight Kevin Mitchell fights Brunet Zamora in a 12 round bout, and welterweight Lee Purdy battles Leonard Bundu in a 12 round fight.
At 31, you kind of have to ask what is Murray doing fighting this caliber of opposition? He should be fighting actual contenders while he’s waiting to get yet another world title shot. I’m not sure what the purpose is of taking another easy mark sandwiched in between world title shots.
The opposition that Murray fought to get his first world title crack against former WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm in 2011 was totally weak in my view. Look at who Murray fought in his fight before facing Sturm: Nick Blackwell.
After Murray was given a gift 12 round draw against Sturm, he then fought two no names in Karim Achour and Jorge Navarro. After beating these two obscure opponents, Murray was given another world title shot, this time against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
Murray just covered up for 12 rounds much in the same way that Brandon Rios mostly covered up against Manny Pacquiao. Now Murray is fighting 39-year-old journeyman Khomitsky on December 14th. My guess is Murray will slip in another fight after that before he has to make a decision about whether he wants to fight WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin or not.
If Murray chooses not to fight him again, we’ll likely see Murray pushed down the WBA rankings from his current #1 spot so that a contender that is willing to step in the ring and challenge the powerful Golovkin can face him. There’s no point in having someone ranked #1 by the WBC if they’re not going to face the champion Golovkin in a timely fashion.
It’s too bad that Murray doesn’t have to fight someone good in order to get all these titles shots, because the World Boxing Association makes it too easy for their #1 contenders to get title shots, because they’re not forcing them to fight talented contenders in eliminator bouts to get these title shots. And that’s why keep seeing so many mismatches. I’d like to see how Murray would do against Daniel Jacobs. Now that would be a good fight.
If Murray doesn’t bring more than what he did in his last fight against Sergio Martinez, I could see Jacobs destroying him in one or two rounds. Murray has this clam-shell high guard that he likes to use for 12 rounds, and Jacobs would eat up a fighter that used that defensive tactic against him. Jacobs would go after Murray’s body and have him on the canvas.
Murray would need to have a plan B to fall back on once Jacobs defeats his clam shell high guard. Of course, we’re not going to see Murray fight Jacobs because he’s fighting the journeyman Khomitsky, and after that, Murray will probably get another title shot. If all Murray has to do is fight the likes of Khomitsky to get another world title shot after having been beaten by WBC champion Sergio Martinez, then I can see this going on and on and on.
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