By Scott Gilfoid: #9 WBC super middleweight contender Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) made easy of the over-matched 27-year-old Cedric Spera (12-5, 2 KOs) on Saturday night in stopping him in the 2nd round of a scheduled eight round fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Murray knocked Spera down twice in the 2nd round.
The fight was stopped after the second knockdown of the round. The time of the stoppage was at 1:47 of the 2nd round by referee Phil Edwards. Spera came into the fight with four defeats in his last six fights.
Murray was using Spera as a tune-up to get him ready for his fight against former three-time world title challenger George Groves next month on June 25 on the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
The 33-year-old Murray looked much bigger than Spera tonight, and he wasted no time in battering him with hard body shots from the 1st round, many which strayed low. At one point, Spera needed a timeout to recover from a particularly painful left to the groin from Murray.
In the 2nd round, Murray dropped Spera with a nice left to the body.
Spera got up and was immediately backed up with a series hard power shots from Murray. Moments later, Murray trapped Spera against the ropes and pummeled him with power shots until he fell from a right hand to the head.
Murray has always been able to beat 3rd tier fighters like Spera. He looks like a world-beater when fighting this level of opposition. Where Murray is come up short is when he’s had to step it up a couple levels against the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Sergio Martinez, Felix Sturm and Arthur Abraham.
Those guys were able to foil Murray’s world title hopes. Murray is now hoping to beat Groves next month so that he can get a crack at WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack this year. I don’t know if Murray will be able to beat Groves because he’s not much of a puncher and he’s going to need to be in order to blast Groves out.