By Vadim Pushkin
According to Umar Kremlev, manager of Russian super middleweight contender Dmitry Chudinov (19-1-2, 12KOs), there are ongoing discussions to face Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16KOs) of the UK on November 12th in Monaco. The card will be headlined by a heavyweight battle between Luis Ortiz and Malik Scott.
Murray was scheduled to have a rematch on that card with former world champion Arthur Abraham. The former champ suffered an elbow injury in training and recently withdrew from the fight.
Chudinov has one defeat on his record, which came at the hands of another British fighter, Chris Eubank Jr., in February of 2015. He lost the WBA's interim title at middleweight in the process.
Since the loss to Eubank, Chudinov moved up to super middleweight and won his last five fights. In his last fight, back on July 31, he fought as a light heavyweight. His biggest win came in June of 2014, when he handed Patrick Nielsen the first defeat of his career by twelve round unanimous decision.
"We are negotiating for Dmitry Chudinov to have a fight on November 12 in Monaco with Martin Murray. They would be fighting at the limit of 168-pounds," Kremlev said.
Murray's career has been high and low in the last few years. He was stopped for the first time in his career by Gennady Golovkin in February of 2015. He then moved up to super middleweight and won three in a row before challenging Abraham for the WBO title. It was a spirited effort, but Murray lost a twelve round split decision. He then picked up another win before facing countryman George Groves in June of this year. Murray had some trouble making the weight and was outboxed in the contest.
Murray had talked about the possibility of moving back down to middleweight, but it's healthier for his body to remain at 168-pounds or higher.
