By Scott Gilfoid: The struggling #13 WBC super middleweight fringe contender Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) will be fighting next month against replacement opponent Dmitry Chudinov (19-1-2, 12 KOs) on November 12 at the Salle des Étoiles, Monte Carlo.
Murray, 34, was scheduled previously to fight 36-year-old former two division world champion Arthur Abraham in a rematch on November 12, but Abraham suffered an injury and couldn’t take the fight.
By Scott Gilfoid: In not surprising news, the soon to be 37-year-old former two division world champion Arthur Abraham (45-5, 30 KOs) has suffered an injury, and he won’t be able to fight a rematch against fringe contender Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) on November 12 at Monte Carlo.
The German based Abraham suffered an injury during sparring, and won’t be able to fight the 34-year-old Murray in a rematch. It’s just as well, because it wasn’t a huge fight by any means, as Murray has lost two out of his last three fights. One of those loses was to Abraham in November of last year in losing a 12 round split decision.
By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (45-5, 30 KOs) and Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) will be reportedly facing each other in a rematch on November 12 at Salle Des Etoiles, in Monaco. Abraham, 36, defeated Murray by a 12 round split decision in November of 2015. Now they’ll be facing each other again. Murray is currently ranked at #13 by the WBC at 158. A second loss to Abraham could knock Murray completely out of the top 15. That would be a huge career blow for the 34-year-old.
It’s unclear what’s at stake with this fight, but it’s not hard to guess that the winner of the fight will likely wind up facing WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) for his World Boxing Organization 168lb title. Abraham was whipped by Ramirez last April on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley card on HBO pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Martin Murray seen here getting worked over by Gennady Golovkin) By Scott Gilfoid: Former world title challenger Martin Murray is predicting that Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) won’t last long against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) in their fight on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Murray (33-4, 16 KOs) was knocked out by Golovkin in 11 rounds last year in January 2015 after running all around the ring the entire fight to keep from getting stopped.
It was a pure survival oriented fight for Murray after the first two rounds. You could see the 33-year-olld Murray make the conscience decision by the third round to just try and survive rather than win the fight. It then got really ugly with Murray spending two rounds trying to clinch Golovkin nonstop the way Brook did against Shawn Porter in 2014.
In this case, Golovkin wasn’t having any of the holding business from Murray, so he would step back and nail him with shots each time he would come forward to put him in a bear hug to stall out the fight. Goodness knows, the referee wasn’t doing anything to control Murray’s clinching, so Golovkin took matters into his own fans by nailing Murray with hard shots each time he tried to clinch him.
(Martin Murray seen here hiding behind his clam-shell guard against George Groves) By Scott Gilfoid: If #2 WBA, #2 WBC middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18 KOs) wants an opponent for his possible fight on September 10 on the Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight card, he might want to consider facing former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs), because he definitely wants to fight him.
Murray, 33, lost his last fight to super middleweight contender George Groves last June in losing a 12 round decision. Murray couldn’t pull the trigger on his punches, and got stuck hiding behind his clam-shell guard for 12 rounds like a good sparring partner.
(Martin Murray seen here hiding behind his clam-shell guard against George Groves) By Scott Gilfoid: Former four time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-4, 16 KOs) suffered a disappointing 12 round unanimous decision loss to George Groves last Saturday night in their WBA 168lb eliminator bout at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
The loss has many boxing fans expecting the soon to be 34-year-old Murray to hang up his gloves after nine years as a pro. However, commentator Glen McCrory thinks Murray should hold off on his retirement and look instead to move back down to the 160llb division to resume fighting in that weight class.
By Patrick McHugh: In a battle for struggling 168lb contenders, #2 WBC George groves (24-3, 18 KOs) defeated former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their WBA super middleweight title eliminator bout at the O2 Arena in London, England.
By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) and Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) weighed in on Friday for their WBA super middleweight eliminator bout tonight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Murray weighed in at 167 ¾ pounds. Groves came in at 167½lbs. These two fighters are the chief support for the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card.
Murray came in over the limit at the first attempt. He was able to take the weight off and make weight on the second weigh-in.
Groves has the power, size and youth advantage, but Murray is the superior guy with the stamina, experience and ring IQ. Groves wins if he can either KO Murray in the first six rounds before fatigue sets in or if he can win the majority of the rounds in the first half.
By Scott Gilfoid: Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) thinks George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) is little more than a quitter after saying that he quit on the second day of sparring with middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in the past. The sparring sessions between Golovkin and Groves took place years ago, and it’s unclear what actually took place.
Murray says Groves gave up and left camp after the second day of sparring with the Kazakhstan fighter. Groves says he did well in his second sparring session with Golovkin. Besides the sparring story, Murray thinks Groves has an ego problem and he sees him as someone that not only feels he’s superior as a fighter, but superior in general.
Groves and Murray will be fighting this Saturday night in a WBA super middleweight eliminator bout at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The winner of the Groves-Murray fight will be the WBA mandatory to 168lb champion Giovanni De Carolis (24-6, 12 KOs).
By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) feels more stronger now than he has in the past, and he’s feeling more motivated now than he has in a while. Groves, 28, will be fighting in a WBA super middleweight eliminator bout against former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card this Saturday night on 6/25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Groves feels like he’s a new man with the help of trainer Shane McGuigan. Whether this is something that’s just in his mind or not is unclear. It’s generally believed that Groves was at his best when he was with trainer Adam Booth. Ever since he parted ways with him, Groves hasn’t looked nearly the same.