| Martin Murray | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Martin Murray |
| Rated at | Middleweight |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Born | 21 September 1982 St Helens, England |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 22 |
| Wins | 21 |
| Wins by KO | 8 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 0 |
Martin Murray (born 27 September 1982) is a British professional boxer fighting in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions. He was the winner of the fourth Prizefighter tournament and is the reigning Commonwealth champion at middleweight. Prior to turning professional Murray was a successful amateur boxer winning the ABA Welterweight championship in 2004.[1]
Contents |
Murray's professional debut came in September 2007 with a victory over Jamie Ambler at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan. He fought once more that year to finish 2007 with a record of 2-0. A busy 2008 saw Murray fight seven more times scoring seven victories over a series of journeyman opponents.[2] On 22 November 2008, Murray stepped into the limelight by taking part in the fourth series of the Prizefighter tournament shown live on sky. He scored wins over Joe Rea and Danny Butler before beating former English title challenger Cello Renda in the final to claim the £25,000 first prize.[3] Following the tournament victory Murray marked time with wins over fellow prospect Kevin Concepcion in April 2009[4] and former Commonwealth title challenger Thomas Awinbono in July of the same year.[5]
Murray left VIP Promotions after the Awinbono fight to sign with Hatton Promotions. His first fight was on the undercard of Matthew Macklin's European Title win at the Manchester Velodrome. Murray faced George Aduashvili of Georgia on 25 September 2009 and scored a first round knockout victory. Following the win Murray said that former British champion Wayne Elcock was on his radar as a man he'd like to beat in order to push himself into future title contention.[6] Murray's next fight on 27 November 2009 instead saw the man from St.Helen's outpoint Belarus boxer Sergey Khomitski with a points victory over 8 rounds.[7] In his first fight of 2010 Murray continued his winning run against international opposition with a victory over the Georgian middleweight champion Shalva Jomardashvili.[8] A shot at the Commonwealth title against Tanzanian boxer Francis Cheka should have followed however Cheka was refused a work permit and on 24 May 2010 in Sheffield Murray instead boxed another non-title fight and defeated late replacement Lee Noble in the third round scoring his 19th straight victory.[9]
On Saturday 18 July, Murray defeated Nick Blackwell for the vacant British Middleweight title, and on Friday 2 December, Murray scored a Draw against Felix Sturm the WBA-Superworldchampion in the Middleweight.
On 16 July 2010 Murray finally fought for a first professional title, the middleweight version of the Commonwealth crown. His opponent at the fight in the Bolton Arena was Australian Peter Mitrevski Jr. Murray went the full 12 round distance for the first time in his career and won on a unanimous points decision. Despite the win Murray claimed that he had felt "sluggish" throughout the fight adding that "I know I can perform much better".[10] He followed up the win on 26 November 2010 with a fight for a second title in a row at the Bolton Arena. His opponent, Brazilian Carlos Nascimento, was the co-challenger for the WBA version of the inter-continental title with Murray winning by stoppage in the third round.[11]
| Preceded by Darren Barker |
Commonwealth Middleweight Champion 16 July 2010-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |