By Scott Gilfoid: #9 WBC super middleweight contender Martin Murray (32-3-1, 15 KOs) has been added to the May 7 card headlined by WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla vs. Ismael Barroso at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
The 33-year-old Murray’s opponent is still to be determined for the card. It’s not likely to be anyone good though because a big fight against former two-time world title challenger George Groves (22-3, 17 KOs) is in the works for the summer provided that Groves wins his next fight against David Brophy (16-0-1, 1 KOs) on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Charles Martin fight card next month on April 9 at the O2 Arena in Manchester, UK.
That’s considered to be a sure thing win for Gorves, and he can possibly mess that one up by getting beaten.
You can expect Murray to be matched up with someone along the same lines as Brophy, possibly a lesser fighter. Believe me, it’s not going to be anyone good, because Murray has too much to lose if he gets beaten by a halfway decent opponent.
Murray is coming off of a 12 round split decision loss to WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham last November in Hannover, Germany. Murray came close to winning the fight, but he was worn down by Abraham in the last four rounds of the contest. Murray didn’t have the punching power to compete in this fight.
Like I said, Murray should win his fight on May 7, because his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport isn’t going to take any chances by putting him in with a good opponent. Where Murray may find himself in trouble is in his match with Groves. If Murray loses that fight, then it’s going to be hard to justify continuing his career. That would be Murray’s fourth defeat in the past three years. We’re talking journeyman level stuff here. I mean, Murray could certainly continue with his career after a loss to Groves if he wants, but I don’t know where he would go.
The defeat would very likely knock Murray out of the top 15, and put him in a position where he would need to claw his way back to the top 15. But even if he gets there, where is he going to go? There aren’t any champions that I can see Murray beating. He doesn’t have that kind of talent to beat the likes of Abraham, Badou Jack of James DeGale.
Murray moved up in weight from the middleweight division recently with the belief that he would be stronger at super middleweight because he wouldn’t have to struggle with draining down to 160 like he’d been doing. But as we saw in his fight against Abraham, Murray looked no more powerful than he was before in the past. Murray’s power was negligible. Unless Murray wants to move up to light heavyweight in hopes of maybe finding a tad bit power in that weight division, I can’t see him getting the power needed for him to make something happen at 168. A loss to Groves is going to put Murray in a position where he’s going to need to answer some serious questions about himself and his future such as it is. I’m just saying. I don’t want to drizzle on Murray’s parade, but where is he going to go if Groves whips him? He’s already been whipped by Gennady Golovkin and Abraham. Pretty soon it’ll be forlorn.
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