Murray-Thaxton Fight: Lesson For Audley Harrison
By Terence Dooley
John Murray’s vacant British lightweight title fight with Jon Thaxton threw up a bit of personal synergy due to the fact that it came the night after Audley Harrison won Prizefighter: The Heavyweights III tournament. I invested heavily in Audley when he turned pro back in 2001, believing he would go all the way to the undisputed world title. Many people disagreed with that pick; still, I have fond memories of Big Aud’s early contests against mediocre Europeans, horizontal Americans and the smallest heavyweights Britain had to offer.
When Audley blasted the undefeated Richel Hersisia to defeat in 2003 my guy seemed to be coming good. Sure, Audley is reticent when it comes to engaging his opponents, but this is smart, right? Audley’s mix of loquacious arrogance and smooth skills seemed a dead cert. Sadly, the WBF title triumph over Hersisia was Audley’s last big performance, he started to slip from this moment on, although my faith in him did not, if anything it strengthened, becoming blind, irrational zeal.
John Murray turned over in 2003; he grew up on Ardwick’s infamous ‘Murray Mile’, right on my own doorstep. Early reviews were good. John also impressed when hammering Johnny Walker on the undercard of Jeff Lacy-Robin Reid.
What Murray showed back then, and what Audley lacks, is an aptitude for fighting that you rarely see in the modern game. Audley talked about having a ‘good camp’ for minor fights; Murray is always in the gym.
We spent icy winter mornings watching Murray spar the likes of Paul Truscott, who is no slouch, and, later, we saw him hold his own with Ricky Hatton at the Phoenix Gym. The steam would rise off Murray as he gathered momentum during the rounds with Truscott; his stock was rising steadily just as Big Aud’ was falling by the wayside.
Murray’s career reached its first big peak last Saturday night with a fourth-round stoppage defeat of venerable veteran Jon Thaxton in Altrincham. Murray has had big wins, title wins, but this was an exclamation performance. Audley had won a tin-pot trophy the night before whilst Murray, the polar opposite of Harrison, took the scalp of a championship level boxer.
My first port of call on the night itself was the dressing room of Jon Thaxton. Jon was a study in concentration, lost in his own thoughts as Brendan Ingle wrapped his hands. Thaxton exudes a confidence born of knowing that you can fight a bit.
Murray’s dressing room reverberated to the sound of his pre-fight music, a mixture of soul and Oasis. Trainer Joe Gallagher spotted me and asked if my new nickname was going to be ‘Statto’, as I had pointed out that Murray’s tussle with Thaxton was coming a year to the night since Thaxton’s last win, that memorable KO of the favored Juan Carlos Melero.
Gallagher told me that he had hidden this little bit of information from Murray. Assuming that the cat was now out of the bag, I asked Murray if he was getting superstitious in his old age. The fighter shrugged. “I leave that type of thing down to Mick [Hennessy] but if I do get him I’ll smash him to bits!”
Murray had misheard me, clearly, but that was it right there, the reason why he was contesting for real titles while Harrison was trying to convince us that the BBC had driven him from the UK. Murray’s attitude is perfect for the professional sport; Audley’s is suited better to the amateur game. Therefore, it is no surprise that one man can dig deep and the other shrivels before the fire.
Indeed, Murray proved his mettle once again in the Thaxton fight, albeit in a different way. The crowd were jumping by the time both men had made their way to the ring. Although Thaxton’s choice of the maudlin My Way fell flat it did silence the jeers of the crowd a little, nobody boos Sinatra. With an intense atmosphere, a huge challenge in front of him and his former title on the line, Murray showed a new kind of strength, he stood off a bit more and boxed with Thaxton from the get-go.
Furthermore, John lost the first round whilst doing this, yet he maintained his stance in round two. In rounds three and four Murray produced the best boxing of his career. Thaxton was tattooed with the left hook in round three, out-jabbed at times in the fourth and then caught with the type of looping right hand that people had feared would do for Murray in this contest; conversely, the shot was not dissimilar to the one Thaxton had used to fell Melero a year ago.
The crowd roared, Murray moved in for the kill and the fight was over - waved off at 2:30 of the round by referee Howard Foster. In the opinion of this writer, and after viewing the replays, the stoppage was premature; however, we entrust the refs with these calls and should respect their decisions.
I simply felt that Thaxton, although hurt, rode the follow-up shots and was in the process of straightening up. His options were limited: throw back or slide to the left or the right; you can infer that he’d have been hit by Murray’s fourth and fifth shots if he had taken either option, thus forcing Howard to step in and, probably, ensuring that Jon had no cause for complaint.
Now, though, Thaxton feels aggrieved. Fighters need closure, especially the championship guys; Jon did not get that on the night.
As for Big Aud’ and me, I’ll keep the faith but I’ve learned a thing or two over the past few years. I may just have learned enough to move on from lazy stylists and onto an appreciation of fighters who can mix skills with will, as Murray has done. In doing so, he’s vindicated the faith of all those who saw up-close that the man from Ardwick had something special. With that said, I’ve just downloaded a camcorder recording of Kevin Johnson’s fight with Michael Rhodes; the languid American could be the next big thing at heavyweight.