John Murray Loses His Title on The Scales
By Terence Dooley
British lightweight champion John Murray has been stripped of his title after failing to make weight for Saturday’s encounter with Scott Lawton. A confusing afternoon weigh in saw Murray having to take to the scales twice, coming in 0.08 kilos (0.1 lb) over the limit on the second, and final, attempt at making the weight.
There was a hint of things to come when Murray missed the stipulated 1pm weigh in time by fifty minutes, his team also failed to make the stated time, leading to assumptions that the fighter was struggling with the final few pounds. This left Murray with ten minutes to make the weight, as you have to weigh in within one hour of the designated time.
In the meantime, opponent Scott Lawton had arrived early, and was just under the lightweight limit, he came in at 9st 8lb, and then had to play the waiting game.
The weight limit was initially set for 61.24 kg, only for the BBBoC officials to recalibrate the scales, which were deemed to be slightly off; they then decided that the limit should be set at 61.26 kg.
Murray was 1.02 kilos over on his first attempt at the weight. He was given five minutes to trim that off, he then stripped naked for the second attempt, coming in at 61.34 kg, BBBoC official Richard Jones informed Murray that he had missed the weight by 0.08 kilos and would be stripped off his lightweight crown.
Initially there was a brief hint of controversy; confusion over the figures had left Murray’s team convinced that John had just made the limit, only for them to concede that John had, indeed, missed the weight by the most slender of margins.
Jones informed Boxingscene that the margins were tight, but that Murray had been given every chance to make the weight, and had been undone by his late arrival. Rules are rules, and Jones enforced them properly, confirming that Murray will be stripped of his title, and that a Lawton win tomorrow night would see Scott crowned.
For his part Joe Gallagher, Murray’s trainer, swallowed his disappointment, telling us that Murray’s recent inactivity had not helped matters, as Murray has not been regularly making the weight. He left us with a final thought: “Inactivity outside of the ring is to blame. When you fight regularly you are in and around the weight, this is a sign of inactivity.”
For his part Lawton did everything that was asked of him, amidst the confusing scenes, he drank and ate a little, before posing for photos with Murray.
A seemingly routine defence of Murray’s hard-won British title has now become a non-title fight, and the mooted Jon Thaxton clash has gone from being a European and British showdown to a non-title contest, unless, of course, Murray wins tomorrow night and the BBBoC mandate that Murray-Thaxton will contest the vacant title.
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