Martin Murray | |
---|---|
Born | St Helens, Merseyside, England | 27 September 1982
Nationality | British |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | |
Height | 5 ft 10.5 in (179 cm) |
Reach | 73 in (185 cm) |
Stance | Orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 46 |
Wins | 39 |
Wins by KO | 17 |
Losses | 6 |
Draws | 1 |
Martin Murray (born 27 September 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed 2007 to 2020. He held the WBA interim middleweight title from 2011 to 2014, the British and Commonwealth middleweight titles between 2010 and 2012, and challenged five times for a world title. [1]
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, he 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 Helens outpoint Belarus boxer Sergey Khomitsky with a points victory over 8 rounds (Khomitsky was the first opponent, who managed to knock Murray down to the canvas for the first time in his pro career). [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 then have subsequently followed. However, Cheka was refused a work permit and on 24 May 2010 in Sheffield, Murray instead defeated late replacement Lee Noble in another non-title fight en route to recording his 19th straight victory. [9]
Two years later, Murray gave Nick Blackwell the first loss of his career and won the vacant British Middleweight title on 18 July 2011.
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]
Murray fought against Felix Sturm on 2 December 2011 at the SAP-Arena in Mannheim, Germany for the WBA Middleweight Title. The fight went 12 rounds and ended up being scored a controversial draw.
It was confirmed going into his with fight Jorge Navarro at Manchester Arena on 24 November 2012 for the interim WBA World Middleweight Championship, that if Murray were to defeat Navarro, he would be the next in line for a shot at the WBA World Middleweight Championship currently held by Gennady Golovkin. Murray, now 25–0–1, defeated the undefeated Venezuelan by TKO and would fight for the world title against World Middleweight Champion Sergio Martínez in Argentina on 27 April 2013. [12] [13] Murray lost a close, controversial decision in a fight where he put Martinez on the canvas twice but with the referee only counting one knockdown. [14] [15]
— Against some other fighter the fight that Martin Murray is fighting right now would be superb. It really would.
— But Golovkin is a fighter from another planet . . .
Al Bernstein and Mark Pougatch calling the fight from Monte Carlo. [16]
Following four solid decision victories in the aftermath of his loss to Sergio Martínez, Murray was given the opportunity to face off against the WBA and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Despite a spirited effort (that of which saw him fight into the 11th round, the second time in Golovkin's career he went ten rounds or more), Murray was ultimately stopped for the first time in his career after referee Luis Pabon witnessed him take several hard unanswered shots from Golovkin.
After three comeback wins, all of them ending early, Murray was set to challenge for a world title for the fourth time in his career, against Artur Abraham for the WBO super-middleweight title. Murray fought very well on Abraham's home turf in Germany, however, that was not enough for the judges, who scored the fight, 116–111, 115–112 and 112–115 in favor of the home fighter, awarding him the split-decision win. After the fight, a gutted Murray said he was contemplating retirement after another failed attempt to win a world title. [17]
On 25 June 2016, Murray fought George Groves in a WBA final eliminator. Groves pressed Murray throughout most of the fight, earning him a unanimous decision win, with scores of 118–110 on all three judges' scorecards. [18]
On 23 June 2018, Murray fought and defeated Roberto Garcia in a foul-filled fight. Murray had some success with his jab and landed more punches compared to Garcia, which was enough for all three judges to call the fight in favor of Murray. [19]
In his next fight, Murray fought against former champion Hassan N'Dam. Despite scoring a knockdown, Murray did not do enough to earn the win. N'Dam won the fight via majority decision, with only one judge scoring the fight a draw, 114–114, while the other two saw it 117–112 and 116–112 in favor of N'Dam. [20]
Murray announced his retirement 3 weeks after his loss to Saunders. [21] He ended his career with 39 wins (17KOs), 6 loses, and a Draw.
46 fights | 39 wins | 6 losses |
---|---|---|
By knockout | 17 | 1 |
By decision | 22 | 5 |
Draws | 1 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
46 | Loss | 39–6–1 | Billy Joe Saunders | UD | 12 | 4 Dec 2020 | The SSE Arena, London, England | For WBO super-middleweight title |
45 | Win | 39–5–1 | Sladan Janjanin | PTS | 8 | 15 Nov 2019 | Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England | |
44 | Win | 38–5–1 | Rui Manuel Pavanito | PTS | 10 | 12 Jul 2019 | Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England | |
43 | Loss | 37–5–1 | Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam | MD | 12 | 22 Dec 2018 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Lost WBC Silver middleweight title |
42 | Win | 37–4–1 | Roberto García | UD | 12 | 23 Jun 2018 | The O2 Arena, London, England | Won WBC Silver middleweight title |
41 | Win | 36–4–1 | Arman Torosyan | KO | 4 (8), 2:39 | 16 Sep 2017 | Echo Arena, Liverpool, England | |
40 | Win | 35–4–1 | Gabriel Rosado | MD | 12 | 22 Apr 2017 | Echo Arena, Liverpool, England | Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
39 | Win | 34–4–1 | Nuhu Lawal | UD | 12 | 12 Nov 2016 | Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco | Won vacant WBA Continental (Europe) super-middleweight title |
38 | Loss | 33–4–1 | George Groves | UD | 12 | 25 Jun 2016 | The O2 Arena, London, England | For WBA International super-middleweight title |
37 | Win | 33–3–1 | Cedric Spera | TKO | 2 (8), 1:47 | 7 May 2016 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | |
36 | Loss | 32–3–1 | Arthur Abraham | SD | 12 | 21 Nov 2015 | TUI Arena, Hanover, Germany | For WBO super-middleweight title |
35 | Win | 32–2–1 | Jose Miguel Torres | TKO | 5 (12), 2:19 | 5 Sep 2015 | First Direct Arena, Leeds, England | Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight title |
34 | Win | 31–2–1 | Mirzet Bajrektarevic | TKO | 5 (8), 2:51 | 18 Jul 2015 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | |
33 | Win | 30–2–1 | George Beroshvili | KO | 2 (8), 2:29 | 26 Jun 2015 | Echo Arena, Liverpool, England | |
32 | Loss | 29–2–1 | Gennadiy Golovkin | TKO | 11 (12), 0:50 | 21 Feb 2015 | Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco | For WBA (Super), IBO, and WBC interim middleweight titles |
31 | Win | 29–1–1 | Domenico Spada | TD | 7 (12), 1:19 | 25 Oct 2014 | Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco | Retained WBC Silver middleweight title; Unanimous TD after Spada was cut from an accidental head clash |
30 | Win | 28–1–1 | Max Bursak | UD | 12 | 21 Jun 2014 | Casino, Monte Carlo, Monaco | Won vacant WBC Silver middleweight title |
29 | Win | 27–1–1 | Ishmael Tetteh | RTD | 6 (10), 3:00 | 23 Apr 2014 | Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa | |
28 | Win | 26–1–1 | Sergey Khomitsky | PTS | 8 | 14 Dec 2013 | ExCeL, London, England | |
27 | Loss | 25–1–1 | Sergio Martínez | UD | 12 | 27 Apr 2013 | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina | For WBC and The Ring middleweight titles |
26 | Win | 25–0–1 | Jorge Navarro | TKO | 6 (12), 1:40 | 24 Nov 2012 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Won Interim WBA middleweight title |
25 | Win | 24–0–1 | Karim Achour | PTS | 10 | 16 Jun 2012 | Manchester Velodrome, Manchester, England | |
24 | Draw | 23–0–1 | Felix Sturm | SD | 12 | 2 Dec 2011 | SAP Arena, Mannheim, Germany | For WBA (Super) middleweight title |
23 | Win | 23–0 | Nick Blackwell | RTD | 5 (12), 3:00 | 18 Jun 2011 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | Retained Commonwealth and WBA Inter-Continental middleweight titles; Won vacant British middleweight title |
22 | Win | 22–0 | John Anderson Carvalho | TKO | 4 (12), 2:20 | 16 Apr 2011 | MEN Arena, Manchester, England | Retained WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
21 | Win | 21–0 | Carlos Nascimento | TKO | 3 (12), 1:40 | 26 Nov 2010 | Reebok Stadium, Bolton, England | Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
20 | Win | 20–0 | Peter Mitrevski Jr. | UD | 12 | 16 Jul 2010 | Bolton Arena, Bolton, England | Won vacant Commonwealth middleweight title |
19 | Win | 19–0 | Lee Noble | RTD | 3 (8), 3:00 | 21 May 2010 | Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England | |
18 | Win | 18–0 | Shalva Jomardashvili | PTS | 6 | 19 Feb 2010 | Fenton Manor Sports Complex, Stoke-on-Trent, England | |
17 | Win | 17–0 | Sergey Khomitsky | PTS | 8 | 27 Nov 2009 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | |
16 | Win | 16–0 | George Aduashvili | KO | 1 (6), 3:02 | 25 Sep 2009 | Manchester Velodrome, Manchester, England | |
15 | Win | 15–0 | Thomas Awinbono | PTS | 8 | 25 Jul 2009 | Sutton Sports Centre, St Helens, England | |
14 | Win | 14–0 | Kevin Concepcion | TKO | 3 (6), 0:01 | 17 Apr 2009 | Indoor Sports Centre, Leigh, England | |
13 | Win | 13–0 | Mikheil Khutsishvili | TKO | 4 (6), 1:13 | 6 Mar 2009 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | |
12 | Win | 12–0 | Cello Renda | SD | 3 | 22 Nov 2008 | York Hall, London, England | Prizefighter 4: middleweight final |
11 | Win | 11–0 | Danny Butler | SD | 3 | 22 Nov 2008 | York Hall, London, England | Prizefighter 4: middleweight semi-final |
10 | Win | 10–0 | Joe Rea | UD | 3 | 22 Nov 2008 | York Hall, London, England | Prizefighter 4: middleweight quarter-final |
9 | Win | 9–0 | Joseph Sovijus | KO | 1 (6), 1:03 | 12 Oct 2008 | Indoor Sports Centre, Leigh, England | |
8 | Win | 8–0 | Carl Wild | TKO | 2 (6), 1:25 | 14 Sep 2008 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | |
7 | Win | 7–0 | Michael Recloux | PTS | 6 | 15 Jun 2008 | Sutton Leisure Centre, St Helens, England | |
6 | Win | 6–0 | Dean Walker | PTS | 6 | 23 May 2008 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | |
5 | Win | 5–0 | James Tucker | PTS | 4 | 18 Apr 2008 | York Hall, London, England | |
4 | Win | 4–0 | Michael Banbula | PTS | 6 | 16 Mar 2008 | Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England | |
3 | Win | 3–0 | Dean Walker | PTS | 6 | 16 Feb 2008 | Tower Circus, Blackpool, England | |
2 | Win | 2–0 | Phil Callaghan | TKO | 1 (4), 1:21 | 26 Oct 2007 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England | |
1 | Win | 1–0 | Jamie Ambler | PTS | 6 | 22 Sep 2007 | Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England |
Sergio Mora is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC light middleweight champion, and twice challenged for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title. He was the first winner of NBC's The Contender series.
Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time former unified champion. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles at varying points between 2014 and 2023, and challenged once for the undisputed super middleweight championship in 2022. He is also a former International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion, having held the title twice between 2011 and 2023.
Vanes Norikovich Martirosyan is an Armenian-American former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2018. He challenged twice for a light middleweight world title in 2013 and 2016, and once for unified middleweight world titles in 2018.
Carl Martin Froch, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) title twice between 2008 and 2011, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 2012 to 2015, and the World Boxing Association (WBA) title between 2013 and 2015. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles between 2004 and 2008, and won the Lonsdale Belt in 2006. As an amateur, in the middleweight division, Froch won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships, and the ABA title twice.
Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam is a French Cameroonian professional boxer. He has held two middleweight world championships; including the WBO title in 2012 and the WBA (Regular) title in 2017, and has challenged once for a super-middleweight world title in 2019.
Daniel Geale is an Australian former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held the unified WBA (Super) and IBF middleweight titles between 2011 and 2013, and the IBO middleweight title from 2007 to 2009. As an amateur boxer, Geale won a welterweight gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Paul James Smith Jr. is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017, and has since worked as a commentator. He held the English middleweight title in 2008, the British super-middleweight title twice between 2009 and 2014, and challenged three times for a super-middleweight world title. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the light middleweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Román Alberto González Luna, best known by his nickname "Chocolatito", is a Nicaraguan professional boxer. He is the first boxer from Nicaragua to win world titles in four weight classes, having surpassed his mentor, idol, and former three-weight world champion, the late great Alexis Argüello.
Daniel Jacobs is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2024. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title from 2014 to 2017, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title from 2018 to 2019. Nicknamed the "Miracle Man", Jacobs' career was almost cut short in 2011 due to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He went on to make a full recovery after spending 19 months out of the sport, meanwhile recovering from severe operation-induced injuries generally perceived as crippling.
Sergio Gabriel Martínez is an Argentine professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010; and the unified WBC, WBO, Ring magazine and lineal middleweight titles between 2010 and 2014. With six successful defenses of The Ring and lineal middleweight titles, Martínez's 50-month reign as champion ranks as one of the longest in the history of that weight class.
Billy Joe Saunders is a British professional boxer. He is the first fighter from the Travelling community to win world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title from 2015 to 2018 and the WBO super-middleweight title from 2019 to 2021. At regional level, he held the European, British, and Commonwealth middleweight titles between 2012 and 2015. Saunders represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics as an amateur, reaching the second round of the welterweight bracket. In the same year, he won gold at the EU Championships.
Christopher Livingstone Eubank Jr. is a British professional boxer. He is the son of former two-division world champion boxer, Chris Eubank.
George Groves is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. At regional level, he held multiple super-middleweight titles, including the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 2010 and 2014. As an amateur, Groves won the ABA middleweight title twice in 2007 and 2008.
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, commonly known as Canelo or Saúl Álvarez, is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. In 2021, Álvarez became the first and only boxer in history to become the undisputed champion at super middleweight, holding this distinction until July 2024. He has also held the Ring magazine super middleweight title since 2020.
David Lemieux is a Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2022. who held the IBF middleweight title in 2015.
Arron Jones , best known by his nickname of "Prince Arron", is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2013. He is a former British Masters champion. He held the British Light middleweight title in 2011 by stopping Sam Webb to claim the belt and challenged once for the EBU European middleweight title in 2013.
Ryōta Murata is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2022. He held the WBA (Regular) middleweight title twice between 2017 and 2021, and the WBA (Super) middleweight title from 2021 to 2022. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2011 World Championships, and gold the following year at the 2012 Olympics.
Callum John Smith is an English professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) and Ring magazine super-middleweight titles from 2018 to 2020. At regional level, he held the British and European super-middleweight titles between 2015 and 2017. In 2018 he won the World Boxing Super Series super-middleweight tournament, winning the Muhammad Ali trophy in the process. He is the youngest of the Smith brothers—Paul, Stephen, and Liam—all of whom are professional boxers.
Fedor Alexandrovich Chudinov is a Russian professional boxer. He held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title in 2016, having previously held the regular title from 2015 to 2016 and the interim title from 2014 to 2015. He is the brother of fellow boxer Dmitry Chudinov.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Ryōta Murata, billed as Big Drama in Japan, was a middleweight unification professional boxing match contested between IBF and IBO champion, Gennady Golovkin and WBA (Super) champion, Ryōta Murata. The bout took place at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan on April 9, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Sporting positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Regional boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Darren Barker | Commonwealth middleweight champion 16 July 2010 – December 2011 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Billy Joe Saunders | ||
Vacant Title last held by Avtandil Khurtsidze | WBA Inter-Continental middleweight champion 26 November 2010 – 2 December 2011 Lost bid for world title | Vacant Title next held by Patrick Nielsen | ||
Vacant Title last held by Darren Barker | British middleweight champion 18 June 2011 – October 2012 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Billy Joe Saunders | ||
Vacant Title last held by Patrick Nielsen | WBC Silver middleweight champion 21 June 2014 – January 2015 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Tureano Johnson | ||
Vacant Title last held by Rocky Fielding | WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight champion 5 September 2015 – November 2015 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Jürgen Doberstein | ||
Vacant Title last held by Dilmurod Satybaldiev | WBA Continental (Europe) super-middleweight champion 12 November 2016 – April 2017 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Jamie Cox | ||
Vacant Title last held by Nuhu Lawal | WBA Inter-Continental middleweight champion 22 April 2017 – May 2018 Vacated | Vacant Title next held by Khuseyn Baysangurov | ||
Preceded by | WBC Silver middleweight champion 23 June 2018 – 22 December 2018 | Succeeded by | ||
World boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam | WBA middleweight champion Interim title 24 November 2012 – 7 March 2014 Stripped | Vacant Title next held by Dmitry Chudinov |