(Martin Murray seen here trying his best to hide behind his clam-shell guard while Gennady Golovkin blasts away at him) By Scott Gilfoid: Now that Martin Murray (29-2-1, 12 KOs) has signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport promotional stable, the 32-year-old fighter would like to get fights against George Groves and IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale.
After talking about it for the past month, Murray is moving up to the super middleweight division to try and make something happen in that weight class. Goodness knows, Murray tried like heck to find success at 160, but the hulking fighter was beaten almost every time he stepped up a level.
His latest failure was getting stopped in the 1th round by WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin last February. Before that, Murray had been beaten by former WBC champion Sergio Martinez in 2013 by a 12 round unanimous decision, and held to a 12 round draw against Felix Sturm in 2011. In each case, what ultimately caused Murray to fail was his lack of punching power, and his inability to muster up enough aggressiveness to win rounds.
Even when he was facing Sergio Martinez, who came into the fight with a torn up right knee, Murray still couldn’t throw enough punches to get the win. It was pretty disappointing to say the least. Murray hid behind his clam-shell guard instead of attacking the one-legged Martinez, who had broken his left hand early in the fight.
“I’ve fought the very best at middleweight and I intend to fight the very best at 168lb,” Murray said to Skysports.com. “It’s a hot division and domestically it can throw up some wars. James DeGale did great to capture the world title and I’d love that fight later this year. George Groves is soon to challenge for a title – another fight I’d relish.”
I suppose Hearn will be able to get Murray fights against DeGale and Groves, but I’m not sure that I like Murray’s chances in either of those fights. If he doesn’t find some punching power to go along with his huge size, I can see Murray getting beaten over and over again until he’s of little use to Hearn other than for domestic fights.
Hearn is going to need to use Murray quickly if he wants to put him in with Groves and/or DeGale, because those guys are flawed and will likely take losses in the near future. I can’t see DeGale holding on to his IBF 168lb title for long, especially if he faces Andre Dirrell in a rematch soon.
DeGale will be fine as long as he’s matched carefully by Hearn. But as soon as he steps him up and shoves him into the ring against the likes of Andre Ward, Anthony Dirrell, Andre Dirrell, Bernard Hopkins, or Badou Jack, I see him tasting defeat. Murray’s advanced age is another reason why Hearn is going to need to use him quickly for whatever big fights he has in mind for him. Murray is about to turn 33, and he clearly isn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer before his performances start deteriorating.
“Martin has proved time and again he is one of the best middleweights in the world and I am now looking forward to building him further in the UK – being involved in some huge domestic and international fights,” Hearn said to Skysports.com.
Murray can definitely beat some guys at 168, but I don’t think he’ll be able to hang with the top five contenders. He doesn’t have enough punching power, and he has a bad habit of hiding behind his clam-shell guard for too long of a time.
Murray tried to hide behind his clam-shell guard against Golovkin, and he found himself getting nailed with uppercuts and looking hooks all night long. Murray’s face quickly became bruised and red from the shots he kept eating in that fight. Finally, Golovkin cornered Murray against the ropes and put him out of his misery with a flurry of nasty head shots.
Murray will be fighting this month on June 27th against an opponent still to be determined at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
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