By Terry Dooley
John Murray hopes to take his first step into domestic title waters this Friday when he takes on Dean Hickman for the English lightweight title at the Nottingham Arena. The fight is on the undercard of Carl Froch-Robin Reid and is being promoted by Hennessy sports.
Manchester’s Murray is one of Britain’s most highly-touted prospects at this moment in time. Murray, who fights at lightweight, is often called the next Ricky Hatton and, like Hatton, he has already fought over in the USA, twice, in order to improve his boxing education.
Many are picking John Murray-Dean Hickman to be the fight of the night tomorrow. Murray’s preparations for the fight have been ideal as he has been able to call upon local Champion Ricky Hatton for his pre-fight sparring.
John had been asked to help Hatton with Ricky’s initial sparring as well as ensuring that John got 18 rounds of good preparation for his bout against the naturally bigger Hickman.
John was not awed by the experience in the slightest. Despite finding Hatton hard to pin down Murray kept calm and by the 5th session Murray had built up enough steam to work his own combinations.
At times Hatton would move John back but every time this happened Murray would make sure that he was in a position to respond. Despite Hatton using his strength to force John onto the back foot as often as possible Murray kept to his style tight and ensured that the rounds were brisk for both.
There were noticeable improvements in Murray’s defence, understandable given that he was sparring a bigger man. After the 6 rounds Hatton told the few observers present that he had spent the past week sparring “one tough bastard”.
Afterwards I spoke to Billy Graham and Ricky Hatton about Murray’s showings that week.
Billy Graham: “I’ve known John for some time and you always read good stuff about him, plus I’ve seen him fight obviously, but I was even more impressed with him this week.
“Do you know how hard it is for people to hold their own in sparring with Ricky Hatton? I was surprised at how calm John was. I knew he was tough but never knew that he was that tough.
“He brought pressure in the first session and Ricky came back in the next one. In every session they did good things. He helped us because the pace John set in sparring will assist Ricky no end. I’m very impressed.
“Murray has durability, he is tenacious and he has the shots and the variety. Anybody at his weight is going to have a real tough time with him.”
Hatton had been enthusing about Murray all week. After each sparring session he would spend time talking with Murray about what to expect from Hickman. Hatton went through what he thought Hickman would bring and how it could be countered.
As for the sparring himself, Hatton explained the reasoning behind it:
Ricky Hatton: “My other sparring partners come in on Monday (the 5th) but the sparring with John was all about helping each other out. It has been good.
“John has got a fight coming up and it is all about helping your pals out. When I was a prospect I used to spar with Andy Holligan, Steven Foster (Senior) and Ensley Bingham. That was a big help on my way up. You have to help a young Mancunian prospect. John was helping me out as well really. He helped me sharpen my tools.
“I’m very, very impressed with him overall. John is very strong, very determined and (he is) as tough as they come. I like his style of fighting as well because it is a bit like mine. He is really going places.
“I’ve had sparring partners come down who are middles and light-middles and they haven’t given me as good sparring as that. He is one for the future and one to watch out for.”
The sessions came towards the end of John’s preparations for the Hickman fight and they have left John in good form ahead of this clash. Hatton calls his early rounds “touching up sessions” but there is nothing touching or soft about them.
Hatton is renowned for his commitment in sparring, he will not take liberties but once that first bell rings he is all business, as is Murray.
There is also a symbolic aspect to the rounds Murray shared with Hatton. Murray took to the sparring like a duck to water, there was no sign of a freeze or hesitancy and this, almost Mexican, stoical stillness is something that John brings to the ring when he is on form.
John will have learned from the rounds and the conversations with Hatton but he will also have taken a little lesson away from every shot Hatton hit him with, and every moment Hatton turned him will be turned over in Murray’s mind.
Like the children caught playing with fleas who, when asked what they would do with the fleas after they finish playing, claimed that “we will kill the ones we see and the ones we don’t see we will take away with us”, Murray will take a little lesson for every blow he took, and gave, against Hatton in sparring.
In his fights with Johnny Walker and Nacho Mendoza Murray was steadied once in each fight with right hand counters so he will be sure to watch out for the right hand of Hickman as well as being aware that he needs to also pay attention to the left.
To that end John’s preparation has been ideal. Murray’s plans now need to be realised in practice.
If a win is the outcome of the Hickman fight the hope is that Murray can fight on the proposed Mexico Versus Britain bill that is set to take place in Vegas the night before the Mayweather-Hatton bout.
For Murray the dream fight would be against Jon Thaxton for the British title. There has been talk of that fight in British boxing circles but, as many know, not many British prospects fight one another as the British scene is hopelessly fractured.
Thaxton and Murray share the same promoter, Mick Hennessey, yet seem destined not to meet in the ring. Thaxton wants a slice of the Amir Khan cake, under the assumption that Thaxton, the old man, can show the young boy a thing or two. Why not substitute Murray for Khan leaving the winner of Thaxton-Murray to try and secure a fight with Amir?
For his part Murray can only put the speculations on hold whilst he prepares for the serious business of fighting Hickman. After his ideal preparations thus far John seems to be relishing the chance to take another forward step:
John Murray: “I’m looking forward to the (Hickman) fight. It is a big bill so it is a big opportunity for me to shine in front of the media.
“I know Hickman is tough. I also know he can bang so we got some tough sparring in preparation. Training has gone well, sparring is going well and I’m hoping to do a number on Hickman.”
John is certain that he has milked every moment of his sparring with Ricky Hatton, it was a chance to lock horns with his hero, as well as being a great learning experience:
JM: “Ricky is one of the best fighters in the world at the moment so any experience I’ve taken away from it will be second to none. I’ll try and learn as much as I can from that short space of time. Sparring with Ricky you can learn more in four rounds than you do in forty rounds of normal sparring.”
Plus there is the added bonus that if you can hit, and be hit by, Hatton you are going to learn a lot about your ability and resolve under fire:
JM: “Well that’s it. If you can handle a few rounds with Ricky you can handle anyone. He is one of the best fighters in the world so it makes you think that you’re Ok yourself if you can do a few rounds with him. I’ve sparred Shane Mosley (when last in the USA) and Ricky Hatton so I’ve sparred some of the best in the world already.”
This desire for the best sparring has also extended to his regular sessions:
JM: “Regular sparring went well (with fellow prospect Paul Truscott). I really surprised myself with how well the sparring is going for this fight because it usually doesn’t (go well). Everything is going A+ at the moment so we hope it can continue into the fight.
“Hopefully I can beat Hickman without cuts or injuries and look to Vegas (Mexico versus Britain) if that can come off. I’d like to go over there and shine for all those American fans over there.
“I’m also going to train over Christmas and will try to get a Jon Thaxton (fight) or entice Amir Khan into a fight if he comes through Graham Earl.”
For now, though, the fight that he would like for Christmas is for the British title against Thaxton.
JM: “I want the Thaxton fight.. At the moment my career has gone a little stale and stopped a bit but I’m going to kick-start it again this Friday against Hickman. I want two fights before Christmas and then a fight after Christmas with Jon Thaxton – call it my three steps to heaven plan.”
The three steps to heaven plan?
JM: “I want to establish myself in Britain then look at fighting some European fighters and International fighters.
“I’m nearly twenty-three and want to beat Thaxton and get the British title when I’m twenty-four, as I’ll be coming into to my peak then. I want to be looking at mixing with top-class fighters. I will do what I can to get a world title shot at some point.”
With Thaxton the immediate aim are there kinks in the style of Thaxton that Murray thinks he can expose?
JM: “Definitely. No disrespect to Thaxton but he is getting on in age and is an aging fighter. I’m young and fresh and want to exploit Jon’s flaws before someone else does.
“It would be a tough fight but I’d want to win it and take the fight before someone else takes him out. Jon might say that he is still fresh and I’m being a bit arrogant here but I don’t think I am being arrogant. I’m young and fresh and want to prove myself against the best fighters to show I’m an up-and-coming fighter.”
Murray also thinks that he is right, stylistically, for causing Khan problems, this, unfortunately, means that he is wrong, realistically, for a fight with Khan as Khan is being moved carefully thus far.
JM: “A few times Khan has fought similar type of fighters to me and they’ve caused him a few problems so I think I’d do well. There are flaws in Khan’s make-up and I can exploit them.
“If I can ever get Khan into a fight I think it would be massive and it would sell-out any arena in the country. It would be a good 50-50 fight for the fans. Amir has every chance of winning and at the same time I think I’d have a good chance of winning so it would be a good fight for British boxing in general.
“If I can get the English and then the British (titles) Khan can bring the Commonwealth (title) and we’ll have a load of belts on the table. He was young fighter of the year 2004 and I was young fighter of the year 2006 so it would be a massive fight. I think the public and the fans would get behind it and want (to see) it.”
At this point I asked John if he was going to be threatening to break anyone in half this weekend, as he had done in the past, only for Murray to laugh the suggestion off:
JM: “I’m not saying stuff like that anymore but I am really focussed and looking to do a good job in this fight. I want to be neat and tidy, not get hurt, not get cut, break him down and take him out professionally in around five rounds.”
A good win for Murray and he can prove those who believe, as this writer does, that he is the most rounded prospect in Britain. More interesting than John Fewkes, technically better than Amir Khan and with a toughness that will be hard to match; a good future is awaiting John, he just needs to step into it and claim it as his own.
