Martin Murray Pondering a Return To The Middleweight Division

By Edward Chaykovsky

After a brief run at the super middleweight limit, Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) is considering the possibility of returning to the middleweight limit of 160-pounds.

After getting knocked out by middleweight king Gennady Golovkin last February in Monte Carlo, Murray made a decision to move up in weight to 168-pounds. He was struggling a bit to make 160 at the time and felt the move would make things better for his career.

After three stoppage wins from June to September, he was able to land a world title shot against then WBO champion Arthur Abraham in November. Murray put up a solid effort, but Abraham pulled out the win in the second half of the contest to seal a twelve round decision.

After the loss to Abraham, he came back and picked up another quick knockout win in May. That victory led to a domestic showdown with George Groves in June. Murray struggled a bit at the official weighin and made weight on his second attempt. In the fight, he was outboxed and overpowered by Groves over twelve rounds.

At 160-pounds, Murray fought for the middleweight championship three times. He went to controversial a draw with Felix Sturm [2011], lost a close decision to Sergio Martinez [2013] and was stopped by Golovkin last year.

While he held a physical size advantage at 160, he felt undersized against Abraham and Groves.

"I'm looking at a November return and I'm not 100 percent decided, but maybe at middleweight," Murray told Nick Parkinson. "I moved up because it was killing me making the weight. I thought I should've got the decision against Abraham but I wasn't right for the Groves fight. Both of them had a massive size advantage against me. Down at middleweight will be harder to make the weight but I feel I've got the advantage there."