By Eric Baldwin: Former four time world title challenger Martin Murray (34-4-1, 16 KOs) had to struggle hard to beat previously unbeaten middleweight replacement opponent Nuhu Lawal (23-1, 13 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant WBA Continental super middleweight title at the Salle des Étoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 117-110 and 117-110. Murray lost a point in the 12th round for throwing a low blow. He’d been warned numerous times in the fight.
Murray had Lawal hurt in the 9th round after hitting him hard with a right hand to the head. Murray threw a flurry of shots in trying to get Lawal out, but he wasn’t able to land a good enough followup shot to finish him.
Lawal outworked Murray in almost every round of the fight, but he missed frequently. However, Lawal appeared to win five of the twelve rounds. Lawal got the better of Murray in rounds 1, 3, 5, 10 and 11. The 12th round appeared to be a Murray round, but the point deduction made it an even round.
This was not Murray at his best in this fight, as he had a difficult time with the constant attacking style from Lawal, who moved up from the middleweight division to take this fight. Murray was better than Lawal tonight, but just barely better. Murray showed the same stamina problems against Lawal that he did in his previous fight against George Groves.
Murray came into the fight having lost two out of his last three fights in defeats to George Groves and Arthur Abraham.
What’s surprising is that Murray could wind up getting another title shot in the near future despite his recent bad luck in the ring. It would be in the best interest of boxing if Murray fought someone good so that he could show that he’s qualified to get yet another world title fight. He’s had four title shots in the last five years, and he’s not had to beat anyone really good to get those title shots. Hopefully this time, Murray beats a good contender like Callum Smith to earn a shot rather than having it given to him off the back of a weak opponent.