By Terence Dooley
John Murray takes on Gary Buckland at the Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes this Friday night in a hastily arranged clash for the European lightweight title vacated by Anthony Mezaache. Murray had hoped to fight Andrei Kudriavtsev only for the Ukrainian to pull out of negotiations at the eleventh hour. Step forward Buckland, 23, who was the next available contender in the EBU rankings.
Murray’s trainer, Joe Gallagher, believes that Murray has put in enough gym time over the past seven months to ensure that there are no slip ups come fight night. “We’ve had the preparation, you see the sign on the door saying that if you fail to prepare you prepare to fail,” declared Gallagher.
“Beggars can’t be choosers and you’ve seen us asking for fights so we weren’t going to turn this one down. I recently said I wouldn’t put Gary in the same room, let alone the same ring, as John because they are different levels but taking the fight at such short notice levels the playing field.
“You’ve got an active kid against a kid who hasn’t fought for months. Gary has beaten Sam Rukundo and Istvan Nagy in recent months; he’s on a good run and has also defeated Henry Castle and Craig Docherty. John had a career best performance against Jon Thaxton last time out so all of the sudden the scales are tipping a bit differently. Buckland is not just coming for a payday; this could be a big, giant killing win for him. John has to make sure that he doesn’t slip up; he has to put Buckland to the sword. Form is temporary but class is permanent and John’s class will tell on the night.”
Murray turned down a March Shobox showcase in order to fight for the EBU title, Henry Lundy was slated as a potential opponent but the Mancunian boxer decided that the European strap, plus the ranking that comes with it, was worth waiting for.
“John Murray is one of our brightest prospects and is up there alongside the likes of Kevin Mitchell, Nathan Cleverly, Kell Brook and Rendall Munroe, none of their managers, or trainers, would have taken an away fight at two-weeks notice so why ask John to do it?” asked Gallagher.
“Frank Warren and Frank Maloney wouldn’t send one of their prospects to the USA to fight Henry Lundy or Jason Litzau at that type of notice – both of those guys are strong, ambitious lightweights. I watched Lundy a few weeks ago; he is a strong and has fast hands. I respect him as a fighter but he had nothing to offer John, who was in the same situation Jamie Moore was in when Jamie was waiting on his European shot.
“We kept John ticking over in the gym and he has now paid his dues in the ring, the hardship times should be over and this is the first step towards him becoming a household name in Britain. John is one of those who does not get demotivated by outside influences but he is in a gym full of active fighters and has seen his brother [Joe Murray] fight recently, Femi [Fehintola] has fought a few times, [Anthony] Crolla has been out a few times and Liam [Cullen] has just turned over – kids who have made their debut only recently, like Danny Randall, have had two or three fights in the meantime.”
Murray’s inactivity has strengthened the fighter’s resolve, with the 25-year-old convinced that he needs to grab every opportunity with both hands in his quest for world title contention. Similarly, Gallagher feels that a siege mentality, not dissimilar to the one Alex Ferguson fostered at Manchester United, has taken hold of Murray’s mind.
“John did a big training session recently and afterwards he said, ‘You know what, I’m not going to stop until I get what I deserve,’ – this was before the date was announced so it just shows you what steel and determination he has. People harp on about it but he is a very driven individual and it will be very hard to stop him,” he predicted before musing over the circumstances surrounding the Buckland fight.
“It is funny because John has been tipped as the new Ricky Hatton but he is going against one of Ricky’s fighters. There are a lot of subplots and tangents in this one. We are grateful to Matchroom for helping out with John’s career, they worked with Mick Hennessy and Mike Marsden to get John ‘The Machine’, as we call him, Murray out there fighting again. It is criminal that a fighter like John Murray, who is at his peak, isn’t out there more often but it focuses him and he will show that focus over the next two years.”
Buckland is promoted by Ricky Hatton; with Mick Hennessy guiding John’s career; therefore this is an unusual contest - two rival outfits fighting over a piece of silverware on another firm’s show. Most importantly, for Gallagher, Murray is temporarily back in the Sky TV fold.
“It is great to be on Sky. We had a great relationship with ITV but Adam Smith, Jim Watt and a lot of the other guys at Sky have a lot of time for John and I’m sure they know that he brings excitement. Sky TV will be happy to have John back onboard as they’ve also got Kevin Mitchell on the week after so they can compare the two fighters,” smiled Gallagher.
“Any TV network would be happy to showcase a guy who is 28-0 (16), a possible European champion, British champion, Young Boxer of the Year, A Ring top ten lightweight and undefeated as British boss. Who wouldn’t want that type of talent on their channel? This kid is an exciting fighter, a pressure fighter; the country needs someone like John, someone who brings a special type of excitement. John is back and he’ll be back with a bang.
“Listen, all respect to Gary Buckland, we brought in Carl Johanneson and asked for Gavin Rees, a former world champion, but Gavin couldn’t make it. We’ve brought our A-game and hope that Gary brings his. There’ll be no excuses after the night, we’ve both had short notice and the John Murray we see in the gym should have too much on the night for Gary Buckland, though Gary’ll be a danger for however long it lasts.”
Tickets are on sale from the Matchroom Sport box office on 01277 359900, £30 for unreserved seating and £50 for ringside. Sky Sports 1 and HD1 televise.
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