Murray: There has been no offer from Golovkin yet

Murray unaware of Golovkin offer, talks Macklin and Saunders Two-time world middleweight title contender Martin Murray has told Livefight he is unaware of any offer to fight WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin on Nov 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Despite online stories yesterday with quotes attributed to Golokin’s manager Oleg Hermann, both Murray and match maker for Hatton Promotions Richard Poxon say no offer has been made. “We’re still sorting Martin’s visa issues out,” Poxon commented. “No offer has been made and until we get things sorted out there’s nothing else to say really. They’ve asked about the latest on Martin’s visa situation and I e-mailed back.” Murray, who recently had an elbow operation after a career best performance against WBC champion Sergio Martinez said: “It’s all brand new news to me if an offer has been made. I’ve not been told of an offer. A date of Nov 2 is the first I’ve heard. I’ve not been told anything. If they said they want to fight me then that’s fair enough but I’ve still got visa issues to sort out. “Hopefully things will be sorted out soon because I’ve had some great, great offers since the Martinez fight. And I’ve not been able to take them.” Golovkin is the talk of the town at the moment since his vicious third round victory over Matthew Macklin in Connecticut last weekend. Murray was working that night in the Sky Sports studio alongside fellow British middleweight Darren Barker to analyse the fight. Since then Murray has had some time to think about the Kazakh’s win. “The more time I’ve had to think about that fight, the more I know it was always going to happen to him . He’s been in some hard fights. He was due that to be honest. Golovkin was always going to beat Macklin because he’s the better fighter full stop. Maybe now he’s a little bit past it and had too many hard fights and too many camps. It was always gonna come sooner or later.” Rightfully the media and the fans have been drooling at Golovkin’s latest performance and are already desperate to find out who will be fighting next. His 27th fight was meant to be his first ‘test’ and now the Golovkin express is in full steam ahead mode. Murray realises how good the 31 year old is but still maintains he hasn’t had a test against a fighter of his calibre. “Golovkin does look like the real deal. He’s not been tested yet but that’s not his fault because he can only beat what’s been put in front of me. The guys he’s faced so far weren’t going to test him but he’s dealt with them impressively.” LF asked the proud St Helens native if it was justified for us all to be getting as carried away as we have been. “To be honest it’s hard not to with the way he’s been getting rid of his opponents. He can bang but a lot of it is down to HBO. They have ploughed a lot into him. At the end of the day it’s the networks that make the fighters.” Murray told LF that he himself is in a good place right now. He’s back in the gym after his operation and is delighted that after his performance against Martinez he has his name now up there with the rest of them. “I know I’m going to be in big fights soon so it’s happy days for me,” he added. And what of fighting Golovkin? His trainer Abel Sanchez confidently told LF this week “He gets stopped the same way Macklin did.” Murray had this to say in response: “Abel Sanchez can talk all he wants but I’m not Matthew Macklin or Golovkin’s past opponents. “Look at Golovkin’s opponents. He was never going to be pushed. He was always going to come through. I rate him though and he’s a good fighter but he’s not fought anyone like myself. That’s when you’ll see the best of me. Me vs Golovkin would be a hell of a fight.” The queue to face Murray extended recently after the news that his promoter Ricky Hatton as well as Frank Maloney would be joining forces with Frank Warren and boxing channel Boxnation. Immediately all sorts of fights were dreamt up such as David Price vs Dereck Chisora and Martin Murray vs Billy Joe Saunders. Given Murray’s rating on the world scene how does he rate a fight with the current British and Commonwealth middleweight champion? “It is what it is. I’m a big fight for him and Frank Warren is going to push for it but there’s nothing in it for me. If they want to build it up as a big rivalry and then there’s a big purse involved then I’m sure we can fight at some point down the line.” http://www.livefight.com/news.php?news_id=3018&y=2013&m=07