John Murray (boxer)

For other people named John Murray, see John Murray (disambiguation).
John Murray

Murray in 2009
Statistics
Rated at Lightweight
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Reach 70 in (178 cm)
Nationality British
Born (1984-12-20) 20 December 1984
Manchester, England
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 36
Wins 33
Wins by KO 20
Losses 3

John Murray (born 20 December 1984) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2014. He held the English lightweight title from 2007 to 2008; the British lightweight title twice, from 2008 to 2010; and the European lightweight title from 2010 to 2011. He also challenged once for the vacant WBA lightweight title in 2011. John is the brother of British former Olympian Joe Murray.[1] Since retiring, Murray has opened his own gym – Murray Machines Gymnasium – in Reddish, where he trains both amateur and professional boxers.[2]

Professional career

Murray's first professional fight took place in September 2003 with a 4 round points win over journeyman Peter Buckley. Over the next two years Murray was busy in the ring scoring 15 more wins in 15 fights before in December 2005 defeating Ignacio Mendoza for the WBC World Youth lightweight title. He made one defence of his title against Moebi Sarouna and scored decent wins over Ben Odamattey and Lorenzo Bethea before defeating Dean Hickman at the Ice Arena in Nottingham for the English title. In October 2006 he was awarded the prestigious young boxer of the year award at a ceremony held in London, an award previously held by the likes of Ricky Hatton, Frank Bruno and Barry McGuigan.[3]

British Champion

Following the Hickman victory, Murray fought twice more against journeyman opponents before meeting Salford boxer Lee Meager for the vacant British lightweight title in July 2008. He won the belt after the referee stopped the fight in the 5th round. Following the fight Meager, a promotional stablemate, announced his retirement.[4] The first defence of his title was made on 17 January 2009 at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan. Murray managed to keep hold of the belt after scoring an 8th round stoppage over Aberdeen's Lee McAllister.[5]

Murray's second defence of the title on 13 June 2009 against Stoke fighter Scott Lawton ended before it had even begun when Murray weighed in for the contest 2oz overweight. Despite efforts to get down to the lightweight limit, Murray was unable to shift the weight and was stripped of the belt.[6] The contest with Lawton still went ahead and resulted in a sixth round stoppage for Murray ensuring that he was still undefeated but no longer a champion.[7] As punishment for failing to make the weight in a championship contest Murray, his trainer Joe Gallagher and his manager Mike Marsden were each fined £1500 by the British Boxing Board of Control.[8]

Murray reclaimed the belt on 3 October 2009 after scoring a fourth round stoppage against former British and European champion Jonathon Thaxton at the Altrincham Leisure Centre.[9] He had his fourth official British title fight on 7 May 2010 against Welsh boxer Gary Buckland this time in Widnes. The fight was also for the vacant European title and resulted in an 11th round stoppage win for Murray who was also able to keep his Lonsdale Belt for good.[10] Murray having won the belt outright chose to vacate in order to defend his European crown with Gavin Rees winning the vacant title against John Watson on 6 November 2010.[11]

European Champion

Murray made the first defence of the European title on 25 September 2010 against the Ukrainian boxer Andriy Kudryavtsev at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan. Kudryavstev had previously fought for the title in 2009 losing to Anthony Mezaache in 12 rounds and had held a number of titles including the Ukrainian national title and the European External Union title.[12] Murray wore down his opponent to score a 9th round stoppage after a high tempo contest. Speaking after the fight Murray said that he knew the fight would be tough after watching Kudryavstev on tape and said that now he wanted to fight the top guys in the lightweight division saying he'd love a "world title shot before Christmas".[13] Murray's next fight however was to be on 2 April 2011, traveling to London's York Hall to defend against Spanish champion Karim El Ouazghari. Both fighters were warned and deducted a point during the fight which Murray eventually won on points over the 12 round distance.[14] The fight against El Ouazghari was Murray's first since joining up with promoter Frank Warren and was described by some as a "scrappy" performance. Murray summed up by saying "It wasn't my best fight, it was like having my debut again. I have cleaned up at domestic and European level and I am looking at moving on".[15] Warren himself said that he'd like to see a fight between Murray and Kevin Mitchell in the future saying "the fans would like to see, but the bottom line is that John is the champion and it's all about what he wants to do."[15]

Kevin Mitchell fight

Murray vacated the European belt in order to fight Kevin Mitchell who was not eligible to challenge for the title due to suffering a loss in his preceding fight with Michael Katsidis. Murray's trainer Joe Gallagher said that John should have been fighting for a world title but as the fight wasn't mandated then beating Mitchell would be a sure way of getting noticed.[16] Mitchell himself had said that the fight represented a "last chance saloon" for him as the fight with Katsidis had resulted in a third round stoppage. Mitchell had cited "personal problems" as having marred his preparation for that fight.[17] The two met at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on 16 July 2011 with Murray suffering a first career defeat via stoppage in the 8th round.[18] Mitchell had hurt Murray in the 7th round and finally scored a knockdown in the 8th before the referee stepped in to call a halt to the fight in what was described as a "superb" contest.[18]

World title shot

On 7 October 2011 it was confirmed that despite a first career defeat in his previous fight Murray would take on Brandon Rios for the WBA Lightweight title on 3 December in New York City. Murray lost the fight by TKO in 11th round However, Ríos was overweight and was subsequently stripped of his title and had to pay Team Murray $20000 from his purse. The vacant WBA Lightweight title is only able to be won by Murray.

Professional boxing record

Professional record summary
36 fights 33 wins 3 losses
By knockout 20 3
By decision 13 0
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
36 Loss 33–3 United Kingdom Anthony Crolla TKO 10 (12), 2:20 19 Apr 2014 United Kingdom Manchester Arena, Manchester, England For WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title
35 Win 33–2 United Kingdom John Simpson TKO 2 (10), 2:58 1 Mar 2014 United Kingdom Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
34 Win 32–2 Argentina Michael Escobar TKO 4 (6), 1:43 22 Nov 2013 United Kingdom Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, England
33 Loss 31–2 United States Brandon Ríos TKO 11 (12), 2:06 3 Dec 2011 United States Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US For vacant WBA lightweight title
32 Loss 31–1 United Kingdom Kevin Mitchell TKO 8 (12), 1:46 16 Jul 2011 United Kingdom Echo Arena, Liverpool, England For vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title
31 Win 31–0 Spain Karim El Ouazghari UD 12 2 Apr 2011 United Kingdom York Hall, London, England Retained European lightweight title
30 Win 30–0 Ukraine Andriy Kudryavtsev TKO 9 (12), 2:39 25 Sep 2010 United Kingdom Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England Retained European lightweight title
29 Win 29–0 United Kingdom Gary Buckland TKO 11 (12), 1:46 7 May 2010 United Kingdom Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England Retained British lightweight title;
Won vacant European lightweight title
28 Win 28–0 United Kingdom Jon Thaxton TKO 4 (12), 2:30 3 Oct 2009 United Kingdom Leisure Centre, Altrincham, England Won vacant British lightweight title
27 Win 27–0 United Kingdom Scott Lawton TKO 6 (12), 1:50 13 Jun 2009 United Kingdom Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England
26 Win 26–0 United Kingdom Lee McAllister TKO 8 (12), 1:00 17 Jan 2009 United Kingdom Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England Retained British lightweight title
25 Win 25–0 United Kingdom Lee Meager TKO 5 (12), 2:20 11 Jul 2008 United Kingdom Robin Park Arena, Wigan, England Won vacant British lightweight title
24 Win 24–0 Syria Youssef Al Hamidi PTS 8 10 May 2008 United Kingdom Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
23 Win 23–0 Mexico Miguel Angel Munguia UD 10 7 Dec 2007 United States MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US
22 Win 22–0 United Kingdom Dean Hickman TKO 4 (10), 2:50 9 Nov 2007 United Kingdom Ice Centre, Nottingham, England Won vacant English lightweight title
21 Win 21–0 United States Lorenzo Bethea TKO 7 (10), 0:28 5 May 2007 United States MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US
20 Win 20–0 Ghana Ben Odamattey TKO 5 (8), 2:33 20 Jan 2007 United Kingdom Alexandra Palace, London, England
19 Win 19–0 United Kingdom Billy Smith PTS 6 6 Oct 2006 United Kingdom Goresbrook Lesiure Centre, London, England
18 Win 18–0 Togo Mouibi Sarouna UD 10 15 Sep 2006 United Kingdom Alexandra Palace, London, England Retained WBC Youth lightweight title
17 Win 17–0 United Kingdom Billy Smith TKO 6 (6), 1:36 12 Jul 2006 United Kingdom York Hall, London, England
16 Win 16–0 Colombia Ignacio Mendoza TD 8 (10) 2 Dec 2005 United Kingdom Ice Centre, Nottingham, England Won vacant WBC Youth lightweight title;
Unanimous TD after Murray was unable to continue due to forehead swelling
15 Win 15–0 United States Tyrone Wiggins KO 4 (8), 2:43 29 Oct 2005 Canada Casino du Lac-Leamy, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
14 Win 14–0 Azerbaijan Azad Azizov TKO 3 (8), 1:54 23 Sep 2005 United Kingdom George H Carnall Leisure Centre, Trafford, England
13 Win 13–0 United States Johnny Walker UD 6 6 Aug 2005 United States St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, US
12 Win 12–0 France Mounir Guebbas PTS 8 8 Jul 2005 United Kingdom Leisure Centre, Altrincham, England
11 Win 11–0 United Kingdom Karl Taylor PTS 6 6 Mar 2005 United Kingdom Tara Leisure Centre, Shaw, England
10 Win 10–0 South Africa Harry Ramogoadi TKO 4 (4), 2:02 9 Dec 2004 United Kingdom Acton Court Hotel, Stockport, England
9 Win 9–0 United Kingdom Daniel Thorpe TKO 2 (6), 2:36 26 Nov 2004 United Kingdom Leisure Centre, Altrincham, England
8 Win 8–0 United Kingdom Ernie Smith PTS 4 31 Oct 2004 United Kingdom Tara Leisure Centre, Shaw, England
7 Win 7–0 Poland Dariusz Snarski TKO 2 (6) 24 Sep 2004 United Kingdom Ice Cenre, Nottingham, England
6 Win 6–0 United Kingdom Anthony Hanna PTS 4 2 Jun 2004 United Kingdom Ice Centre, Nottingham, England
5 Win 5–0 United Kingdom John Paul Ryan TKO 1 (4), 2:05 12 Mar 2004 United Kingdom Ice Centre, Nottingham, England
4 Win 4–0 United Kingdom Norman Dhalie TKO 2 (4), 2:37 30 Jan 2004 United Kingdom Goresbrook Leisure Centre, London, England
3 Win 3–0 United Kingdom Jason Nesbitt PTS 6 21 Dec 2003 United Kingdom Reebok Stadium, Bolton, England
2 Win 2–0 United Kingdom Matthew Burke KO 1 (4) 18 Oct 2003 United Kingdom MEN Arena, Manchester, England
1 Win 1–0 United Kingdom Peter Buckley PTS 4 6 Sep 2003 United Kingdom Leisure Centre, Huddersfield, England Professional debut

Titles in boxing

Regional titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Nico Salzmann
WBC Youth lightweight champion
2 December 2005 – August 2007
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Josesito López
Vacant
Title last held by
Scott Lawton
English lightweight champion
9 November 2007 – 11 July 2008
Won British title
Vacant
Title next held by
Martin Gethin
Vacant
Title last held by
Jonathon Thaxton
British lightweight champion
11 July 2008 – 12 June 2009
Stripped (title lost on the scales)
Vacant
Title next held by
Himself
Vacant
Title last held by
Himself
British lightweight champion
3 October 2009 – 6 November 2010
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Gavin Rees
Vacant
Title last held by
Anthony Mezaache
European lightweight champion
7 May 2010 – June 2011
Vacated

References

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