Golovkin vs. Murray: Why is Martin such an underdog?

By Boxing News - 02/10/2015 - Comments

murray322By Gerardo Granados: On February 21 at the Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo in Monaco, the defending WBA – IBO middleweight champion of the world Gennady “GGG” Golovkin W31 (28)-L0-D0 will try to increase his long 18 knockout streak against the favorite son of St Helens City middleweight contender Martin Murray W29 (12)-L1-D1; also, Golovkin aims to increase his winning title defense streak to an outstanding 18 consecutive knockouts.

First of all, Martin Murray took a fight against maybe the second most avoided fighter next to bantamweight king Guillermo Rigondeaux. Let us not forget that for Murray this will be the third time that he gets a shot at a major organization championship and at his last two chances he could have been declared the winner. But why is Murray such an underdog at the betting odds? Is it because we might be overlooking a solid middleweight contender giving him just a minimal chance to win?

At 6´0” height and 73” reach, also a good boxer with a nice left hook to the body Murray has the size and built to compete against any current top middleweight. Murray might have average power but the betting odds make him look like a limited fighter who appears as the sacrificial lamb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-_pH99R3sw

Back in December of 2011, Murray fought Felix Sturm for the WBA middleweight strap at Germany, the fight was close and competitive but once again fight fans got to see a fight judge local decision awarding a Draw to the local fighter. To me it was a very “decent robbery” because at least Sturm was not awarded an undeserving victory. A rematch was never made but you can argue that Murray should have been the winner and declared the WBA champion. I scored the bout 115-113 for Murray.

Less than two years ago Murray went to Argentina to challenge Sergio Martinez for the WBC middleweight championship. The fight was not as close or competitive to declare it a draw even less to award the victory to the local fighter but as the reader already knows some fight judges have a tendency to favor the local fighter even if Martinez got knocked down twice (one wrongfully ruled as a slip) and wobbled more than once, also Martinez´s face showed the damage taken by Murray´s punches. If the reader has the time to search for the fight you might agree that Murray should have won by 115-112.

The official records state that Murray has never been a middleweight champion but still I believe he shouldn’t be considered such an underdog. I am not saying that Murray will upset Golovkin but I wouldn’t be surprised if Murray presents a genuine challenge for Gennady and even is able to avoid getting knocked out by GGG.

YouTube video

If we are going to acknowledge Murray to be helpless against Gennady then we should also acknowledge Golovkin as at least the number two at the pound for pound list.

I think the betting odds are way off and to see a 1/33 bet discredits a title bout as a true competition. But, do the readers think Murray is such an underdog?



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