By Scott Gilfoid: After a narrow win over 39-year-old journeyman Sergey Khomitsky last December, #7 IBF Martin Murray (26-1-1, 11 KO’s) will be back in the ring on April 23rd of this month to fight journeyman Ishmael Tetteh (29-10-2, 16 KO’s at the Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa, according to promoter Rodney Berman’s twitter. It’s hard to understand why Murray would want to fight someone with a record like Tetteh, especially when Murray just finished fighting another journeyman in Khomitsky last December.
I’ve heard of taking it easy, but Murray is really going overboard here with the soft opponents. All I can think is that Murray is being very, very careful with his career now that he lost to WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez last year. Murray had a pretty good chance to fight WBA middleweight champion Gennandy Golovkin, but instead he fought Khomitsky, who Murray had previously beaten by an 8 round decision back in 2009. Why fight Khomitsky for a second time when he could have fought someone else? It’s very strange, and I can’t begin to understand the rhyme or reason why how Murray goes about selecting his opposition. I don’t know but maybe the loss to Martinez knocked the ambition out of Murray.
Tetteh has lost 4 out of his last 8 opponents, and I’ve never heard of any of them. His entire resume is filled with fighters I’ve not heard of I’d be willing to be that most hardcore boxing fans have never heard of them either.
At 31, the clock is ticking for Murray, and he’s going to need to start thinking about taking the training wheels off and start facing good opposition. He’ll be turning 32 in September, and he’s lost his high ranking that he had with the World Boxing Association. They had him at No.1, buyt not anymore. Murray is ranked #5 by the World Boxing Council, but he’s not going to get another crack at Sergio Martinez anytime soon, if ever. Murray had a chance against Martinez, but instead of using it, Murray covered up for 12 rounds behind his clam shell guard and gave away the fight.
The WBC will likely make Murray earn a title shot by fighting an eliminator, because I don’t see Murray getting picked out for another world title shot by Martinez after the dull performance he put in against Martinez. To get a title shot against the WBC champion, Murray will have to beat someone like Marco Antonio Rubio. I can’t see Murray beating Rubio because he doesn’t throw enough punches. Sitting behind his clam shell won’t work for Murray against Rubio. Heck, it might not even work against Tetteh. Wouldn’t that be sad to see Murray getting whipped by Tetteh on April 23rd?
Comments are closed.