Well what a weekend yet again for British boxing, although we have no more champions today than we did last week I think it’s fair to say that British boxers certainly gave a good account of themselves.
Firstly, Friday night saw Martin Murray take on champion Felix Sturm for the Middleweight championship in Germany. In what was a beautiful display of boxing from both fighters the fight ended with a draw. There was none of the usual shinanagins that have been associated with boxing of late, no drawn out clinches, no theatrical low blows, just good old fashioned boxing. Both men fought with a high held guard and established a good jab, perhaps the more potent one coming from the champion. Each round was agonisingly close with a constant rhythm of Murray coming forward landing combinations then backing off and allowing Sturm to do the same. The champion however made sure that he always had the last word in each of these exchanges, and this I think is what set the two fighters apart slightly. The stamina of the fighters was superb, Murray in particular looked very fresh going into the championship rounds, Sturm as ever finished very strongly with a wild barrage or arm punches before the final bell that did not really worry Murray. It was perhaps fitting then that the judges gave the fight as a draw. There will be those who argue the decision claiming that Murray was robbed, I do not think this is the case. I think that for a previously inexperienced fighter Martin Murray gave a career best performance on the world stage. On saying that, he was in the champion’s back yard and upon reviewing his performance will probably agree that there were times in each round when he could have done more to wrestle the title away from Sturm. I wish Martin the best of luck and he proved a lot of critics wrong, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be up there fighting the world’s best middleweights sooner rather than later, especially if his promoter Ricky Hatton has anything to do with it!
Next it was the turn of once beaten former British heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora to take on the giant Fin Robert Helenius for the European Heavyweight title. Chisora looked to have improved dramatically since his loss to Tyson Fury in July where he weighed in at a career high of 261 pounds. By contrast last night Chisora looked motivated and weighed in at a trim 241 pounds, during the fight he was the much busier of the two fighters, pounding away at the champions body. Helenius nicknamed the ‘Finnisher’ due to his country of origin had been touted as the man to beat the Klitschko’s, however the undefeated Fin appeared to be exposed by Chisora. Two of the judges scored the fight 115 – 113 in favour of Helenius and the other 115 -113 to the Londoner. This prompted outrage from revered trainer Freddie Roach who was commentating on the fight who describe the decision as “just terrible.” Dereck’s manager and promoter Frank Warren was also disgusted with the scoring and says that he will be speaking with the EBU for an immediate rematch. It was certainly a gutsy performance by Chisora who has in the past been accused of not taking fights seriously enough and coming in overweight. However as we have seen many times before a challenger really needs to take the title away from the champion and leave nothing to chance. I hope that Dereck takes heed from this and uses it to help motivate him in the future. I will be very disappointed if instead of this he feels hard done by and his ambition is quashed, although this is unlikely to happen.
Finally brave Mancunian John Murray once again came up short in a battle with recently denounced lightweight champion Brandon Rios last night at Madison Square Garden. Rios had earlier been stripped of his title after failing to make the weight, however Murray could not use his better preparation to good effect and was simply out gunned by the undefeated Mexican- American. The early exchanges saw Murray match his opponent and he looked strong until being cut in the sixth round. Then Rios, as a shark, saw blood and took control. It was the former champion who fought viciously and in the eleventh round destroyed the Briton with a barrage of punches that distorted Murray’s facial features. The referee had seen enough and stopped the fight. This is the second defeat of John Murray’s career after a knock out loss to domestic rival Kevin Mitchell in a thriller earlier in the year. It is unsure what will be next for John, however it is never nice to see a fighter’s face as badly damaged as his was last night. I sincerely hope that whatever he chooses to do he will take his health into account.
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