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Amir Khan has turned up the heat in his rivalry with John Murray – insisting the undefeated British and European lightweight champion doesn’t have the brains to step up to world-class level.
WBA light-welterweight king Khan adds Murray must prove he is worthy of sharing a ring with him by first defeating
Victor Ortiz before he would hand him a dream clash.
There is no love lost between the two Greater Manchester fighters, who look destined to go head-to-head in a mouth-watering Battle of Britain at some point.
But despite watching Murray blast away Andriy Kudriavtsev in nine rounds on Saturday, Khan is convinced he would make light work of the 25-year-old, who holds the longest unbeaten record in Britain with 30 straight wins.
“John Murray has to prove himself against better opponents,” said Khan. “I’d take that fight for a quick payday. It’s an easy fight. It would be a walk in the park.
“He’s dominant at the British and European level and he deserves that. But to fight at world class level you need more brains. He doesn’t have the X Factor.”
Infuriate
Khan’s words are sure to infuriate Murray and his diehard support, who delighted in hurling abuse at the 23-year-old
former Olympian, who was a pundit for Sky TV on Saturday.
Later that evening, the Bolton man’s car was keyed in the car park.
Khan makes the third defence of his WBA title against Marcos Maidana in December and says that would be an ideal opportunity for Murray to build his name to a world audience.
His promoter, Golden Boy, want Murray to face light-welterweight Ortiz on the undercard in Las Vegas as an eliminator for a Khan clash.
But with potential world title fights against the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis or Humberto Soto, it would take a mega payday to tempt Murray to abandon the lightweight division and step up.
Khan says he must if he has any hopes of the two getting in the ring.
“I don’t think he deserves his chance,” he said. “He’s not proven. I’ve not seen anything he’s done.
“We will offer him Victor Ortiz on the undercard of my fight with Maidana. If he beats Ortiz, I will fight him. He’s not earned his name yet. The undercard of an Amir Khan fight would be good for him if we could get that.
“Right now he would be an easy fight for me.
“John is a little older than me. He didn’t do anything when he was an amateur. With him there is a lot of hype, but I don’t see anything decent from him.
“I’ve had tougher sparring partners.
Desperate
“People keep putting his name to me, but it’s not a fight that would sell. No one wants it.
“We offered him the fight before, but he wanted too much money. I’m going on to bigger and better things – I’m not coming down to John Murray.”
Murray is desperate to take on Khan, but first has ambitions of unifying the lightweight division. And he is convinced he can become a world star in his own right.
“I’m a very exciting fighter,” he said. “I’m not looking to pinch points, I’m trying to take the guy’s head off and put a show on.
“I want to entertain. You see with my fans, the Barmy Army, they really get behind me.
“I want to take them to Vegas. They’ve been loyal to me. I’ve not had a lot of publicity, I’m not a household name, but they’ve followed me around little dinner shows and things like that.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger and now it’s starting to take off. I’m there now. I’ve proved I belong at world class level and when I get my world title chance I will bring it home.”
John Murray seems to think because he lives 15 mins away in a poorer neighbourhood from Khan he is entitled to a domestic showdown with Khan.
Its embarrassing and shows the racist tendencies of the British media to repeatedly trying to hyphenate Khan with domestic British bums, First it was Khan -V- Mitchell, When Mitchell got knocked out by Katsidis its now Khan -V- Murray.
The British media should stop trying to hyphenate Khan with these domestic fighters who have no chance of beating Khan, I dont know why they keep doing it but they always try to build up and hype up some White boy who is a boxer fighting tomato cans and then tout the idea of a domestic show down with Khan.
Khan is a A+ world class fighter, Murray is a C/D level domestic fighter.
WBA light-welterweight king Khan adds Murray must prove he is worthy of sharing a ring with him by first defeating
Victor Ortiz before he would hand him a dream clash.
There is no love lost between the two Greater Manchester fighters, who look destined to go head-to-head in a mouth-watering Battle of Britain at some point.
But despite watching Murray blast away Andriy Kudriavtsev in nine rounds on Saturday, Khan is convinced he would make light work of the 25-year-old, who holds the longest unbeaten record in Britain with 30 straight wins.
“John Murray has to prove himself against better opponents,” said Khan. “I’d take that fight for a quick payday. It’s an easy fight. It would be a walk in the park.
“He’s dominant at the British and European level and he deserves that. But to fight at world class level you need more brains. He doesn’t have the X Factor.”
Infuriate
Khan’s words are sure to infuriate Murray and his diehard support, who delighted in hurling abuse at the 23-year-old
former Olympian, who was a pundit for Sky TV on Saturday.
Later that evening, the Bolton man’s car was keyed in the car park.
Khan makes the third defence of his WBA title against Marcos Maidana in December and says that would be an ideal opportunity for Murray to build his name to a world audience.
His promoter, Golden Boy, want Murray to face light-welterweight Ortiz on the undercard in Las Vegas as an eliminator for a Khan clash.
But with potential world title fights against the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis or Humberto Soto, it would take a mega payday to tempt Murray to abandon the lightweight division and step up.
Khan says he must if he has any hopes of the two getting in the ring.
“I don’t think he deserves his chance,” he said. “He’s not proven. I’ve not seen anything he’s done.
“We will offer him Victor Ortiz on the undercard of my fight with Maidana. If he beats Ortiz, I will fight him. He’s not earned his name yet. The undercard of an Amir Khan fight would be good for him if we could get that.
“Right now he would be an easy fight for me.
“John is a little older than me. He didn’t do anything when he was an amateur. With him there is a lot of hype, but I don’t see anything decent from him.
“I’ve had tougher sparring partners.
Desperate
“People keep putting his name to me, but it’s not a fight that would sell. No one wants it.
“We offered him the fight before, but he wanted too much money. I’m going on to bigger and better things – I’m not coming down to John Murray.”
Murray is desperate to take on Khan, but first has ambitions of unifying the lightweight division. And he is convinced he can become a world star in his own right.
“I’m a very exciting fighter,” he said. “I’m not looking to pinch points, I’m trying to take the guy’s head off and put a show on.
“I want to entertain. You see with my fans, the Barmy Army, they really get behind me.
“I want to take them to Vegas. They’ve been loyal to me. I’ve not had a lot of publicity, I’m not a household name, but they’ve followed me around little dinner shows and things like that.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger and now it’s starting to take off. I’m there now. I’ve proved I belong at world class level and when I get my world title chance I will bring it home.”
John Murray seems to think because he lives 15 mins away in a poorer neighbourhood from Khan he is entitled to a domestic showdown with Khan.
Its embarrassing and shows the racist tendencies of the British media to repeatedly trying to hyphenate Khan with domestic British bums, First it was Khan -V- Mitchell, When Mitchell got knocked out by Katsidis its now Khan -V- Murray.
The British media should stop trying to hyphenate Khan with these domestic fighters who have no chance of beating Khan, I dont know why they keep doing it but they always try to build up and hype up some White boy who is a boxer fighting tomato cans and then tout the idea of a domestic show down with Khan.
Khan is a A+ world class fighter, Murray is a C/D level domestic fighter.
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