By Terence Dooley
John Murray's career reached a pinnacle last October when he hammered long-time rival Jon Thaxton into a fourth round stoppage defeat yet post-fight talk of contests against the likes of Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis turned out to be just that, with Murray currently sitting on the shelf and unsure as to who, or when, he next fights.
There is a sense of Déjà vu about all of this. This time last year Murray, 28-0 (16), confessed to BoxingScene.com that he had been toying with the thought of retirement, figuring that he should go and get a trade rather than wait in vain for his boxing career to really take off.
I recently caught up with Murray, who has been in the gym since the Thaxton fight and is currently sparring with Anthony Crolla ahead of Crolla's showdown with TBA at the weekend. When asked about the date, location and opponent for his next fight, Murray shrugged, “I dunno, what can you tell me?” answered the 25-year-old Mancunian before admitting that the details were still being worked on.
Given that Murray is the mandatory challenger for the EBU title held by Anthony Mezaache, that Mezaache, we presume, signed over options to Mick Hennessy when defeating Jon Thaxton last year, and that Anthony has fought here in the UK before, that aforementioned win over 'Jono', then we could reasonably assume that Mezaache versus Murray should be an easy fight for Hennessy to make, certainly as easy as it would have been to make Thaxton-Murray when both held titles, European and British respectively, and were on a good run of form.
Mick delayed Thaxton-Murray in order to build a British super-fight only for Jon to lose his EBU belt in that voluntary defence against Mezaache, bang went the dual title showdown. Jon then took a warm-up fight against Tom Glover; Jon was fighting above his optimum weight in that one and taking on a confident fighter, we all know what happened next: Jon lost the warm up, bang went the anticipation for a Murray-Thaxton fight.
The presumption is that Hennessey is working on a TV deal in order to make Murray’s next fight; however, Lenny Daws, a Hennessey fighter, featured on a Matchroom bill the other night so surely Mezaache-Murray, which was rumoured to be signed, sealed and delivered, could have found its way onto a bill by now?
Perhaps the problem lies with Mezaache. Anthony is rated at #2 by the WBC; Murray is number 8; Edwin Valero, the current champion, could soon vacate leaving #1 contender Anthony Petersen to fight Mezaache for a crack at the belt, presuming that the WBC also try to accommodate former interim holder Antonio Demarco; Mezaache, sensing that he could soon be pushed into a title fight position, is probably sitting on his ranking. Sensible move, but where does it leave Murray?
With no word from Murray's camp over the title fight situation the British boxing public have been left to ask the question of where Murray goes next. Talk of Kevin Mitchell versus Murray only serves to highlight John's frustrating plight.
Consider, Murray is the current British champion and has been at lightweight for the bulk of his career, his last four fights have seen him develop stylistically but, as shown above, the Thaxton fight was torpedoed by hesitancy. What was once the most eagerly anticipated, and easy to make, contest in British boxing became an, ‘Oh, well Thaxton was finished’ win on the resume of Murray, not to mention the fact that the European belt had been allowed to slip out of sight.
Conversely, Kevin Mitchell spent the bulk of his career at super-featherweight yet since moving to lightweight he is 2-0 (1) with a points win over Breidis Prescott who, according to our sources, was mooted as an opponent for Murray a while back only for John to agree to the fight and then hear nothing further about it. Mitchell's win over Prescott, though Breidis was coming off a loss, was an exclamation victory the like of which Murray craves, that it came with a WBO Inter-Continental title and a promise of a world title fight for the winner only served to rub salt into Murray's wounds. Mitchell then took on Ignacio Mendoza, defeated by Murray in 2005, and is now expected to fight Katsidis, who was talked about as an opponent for Murray.
Murray, the long-time #1 British lightweight, must be quaking in frustration and shaking his head in disbelief. It has taken Mitchell two fights to travel further than John has managed in his entire lightweight career and talk has now moved on from Murray-Thaxton-Khan to, at best, Mitchell possibly winning the WBO title and defending against Murray or, more likely, Kevin setting his sights on a light-welterweight campaign and a showdown with Khan. Leaving Murray with, well nothing, and possibly nought down the line should Mitchell became yet another name that John should have fought but didn’t.
Still, Mick Hennessey is a dab hand when it comes to moving his men through the traditional route and onto the world title; the only problem is the pace at which he moves these guys. Carl Froch came to his world title at just the right time yet Junior Witter, a WBC title winner under Mick, was well past his best when he finally became a world title holder.
Murray, a pressure fighter, runs the risk of burnout due to his all or nothing fighting style so will he relish the idea of going for his world title in or around his thirties? Not likely. Nor will he be pleased about the fact that Mitchell has stolen a huge march on him with only a fraction of the 135lb fights. Murray, a dominant lightweight at the British title level, is lagging behind a former super-featherweight, Mitchell, who went life-and-death with the domestic level Carl Johanneson in his sole British title fight.
Crazy world, topsy-turvy sport and had the Prescott fight been delivered to Murray then we may well be talking about Murray as the man who had slain the reputation of the fearsome Columbian. However, that fight wasn't delivered, Murray is kicking his heels in the gym, and we are left to speculate online about the possible outcome of a Murray-Mitchell fight, all the while knowing that this is yet another domestic bout that will never come off.
Far too many big British fights have been ruined on the backburner; we have a fighter, in Murray, who could go off the boil unless he is given a fight, a meaningful one, ASAP. Murray is a full-time fighter these days yet in in-ring terms he is barely on a part-time rota.
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