WBC Middleweight champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez (50-2-2, 28) has been out of the ring since suffering various injuries in his bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last September. He returns to the ring this week as he goes back to Argentina for his first fight there in over a decade, his opponent, the unbeaten Brit Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11) will be looking to score his biggest victory and arguably the biggest upset of the year.
At 38 years old Martinez is certainly a fighter coming to the end of his career. Sure he completely out boxed and outsped Chavez last time out but after suffering a nasty injury to his knee there is every chance he'll have slowed. In all honesty if Martinez loses his wheels he'll be a much more limited fighter than the one we are used to.
At his best Martinez is a skilled fighter who combines very quick reactions with a great engine, a fantastic jab and the ability either counter an opponent or beat them with work-rate from a distance, especially his straight shots.
Fighting from a Southpaw stance and with a 73" wingspan Martinez is an incredibly tricky fighter. Whilst his biggest fault might be that he isn't a huge puncher (despite a memorable KO over Paul Williams) he has more than respectable power and can hurt fighters, though admittedly it's rare that he hurts a guy with a single shot, instead of an accumulation of sharp punches. It's those accumulated shots that Martinez can break fighters down with mentally and physically, though if his opponents leaves themselves open he will counter with power.
Going in to this bout it's fair to say that Murray is a big under-dog and it's with good reason. Not only is the bout a big step up for the 30 year old from St Helens but it's also away from home (only his second bout outside of the UK). Despite being the under-dog however Murray will feel he has more than just half a chance. Not only is he unbeaten but he is also a fighter coming in to his peak years physically.
Although Murray has really been a British level fighter for much of his career he has already fought on the world stage notably drawing in Germany to Felix Sturm in a WBA title bout. The draw with Sturm announced Murray as a fighter to keep an eye on though in all honesty the result was hugely unexpected as Murray hadn't been fighting opponents that were even nearing fringe world level.
Since the draw with Sturm, Murray has scored 2 victories with the most recent of those coming in November when he stopped Jorge Navarro for the WBA "interim" Middleweight title.
Murray is over-all solid, he's not the type to over-whelms fighters or to take them out with a single head shot but his body work is very good, and although he has been stopping fighters with shots to the midsection I get the feeling that his shots there are more about placement than power. It's with the body shots that he arguably stand his best chance of beating Martinez though it's more through grinding Martinez down with them than taking him out with a single shot.
Although Murray can pull off the upset,I don't see it happening if truth be told. Martinez's might not be the fighter he was but I still see him being too good and too fast.
Prediction-Martinez TKO10
Showing posts with label Martin Murray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Murray. Show all posts
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Friday, 23 November 2012
Martin Murray v Jorge Navarro
With Ricky Hatton's big comeback fight against Vyacheslav Senchenko it'd be fair to assume that Hatton Promotions would have done things on the cheap, instead however they have 2 "world" titles. The most one sided of those, at least on paper, sees the talented Martin Murray (24-0-1, 10) facing Venezuelan Jorge Navarro (12-0, 10) for the WBA "interim" Middleweight title.
Sadly this fight looks a bit like a mismatch because not much is really known about Navarro, who, to say the least, is unknown. Despite his perfect record he hasn't really faced anyone of note, in fact his best opponent so far is Costa Rican Jaime Barboza, this makes it hard to gauge just how good he is. Worryingly however we do know that he was dropped by hard hitting journeyman Jhonatan Ricar. Whilst Ricar can hit hard he is limited and shouldn't have the type of skill to connect on a world class fighter.
As worrying as his competition, Navarro hasn't a great deal of experience. In fact he's only got 31 rounds of professional experience with 11 of those coming against Barboza and only 3 of his 12 fights have gone 3 or more rounds. As well as his inexperience as a fighter, he is also inexperienced at fighting abroad and so far has never fought outside of Latin America (with 10 fights in Panama and 2 in his native Venezuela).
Whilst Navarro is a bit of a mystery man, Englishman Martin Murray is generally considered to be one of the top 10 or so Middleweights in the world with rankings from Ring Magazine (#8) and Boxrec (#10) to back this up. Whilst Murray himself hasn't scored any massive wins, he was unlucky last year, in his most notable bout so far to only draw with German Felix Sturm.
As well as the result against Sturm, Murray holds notable victories over the likes of Carlos Nascimento, Shalva Jomardashvili and Siarhei Khomitski. All much more proven, and higher quality opponents than anyone Navarro has faced so far. With this in mind it's hard to see anything but a victory for Murray.
Although Murray's record doesn't show it, he's a hard working fighter who throws a solid amount of leather with a hurtful dig. His shots aren't concussive but they are nasty, especially to the body which I expect will be the key here as he looks to attack Navarro's body early on and drag the visitor in to the middle rounds before forcing a stoppage.
Prediction-Murray TKO7
Sadly this fight looks a bit like a mismatch because not much is really known about Navarro, who, to say the least, is unknown. Despite his perfect record he hasn't really faced anyone of note, in fact his best opponent so far is Costa Rican Jaime Barboza, this makes it hard to gauge just how good he is. Worryingly however we do know that he was dropped by hard hitting journeyman Jhonatan Ricar. Whilst Ricar can hit hard he is limited and shouldn't have the type of skill to connect on a world class fighter.
As worrying as his competition, Navarro hasn't a great deal of experience. In fact he's only got 31 rounds of professional experience with 11 of those coming against Barboza and only 3 of his 12 fights have gone 3 or more rounds. As well as his inexperience as a fighter, he is also inexperienced at fighting abroad and so far has never fought outside of Latin America (with 10 fights in Panama and 2 in his native Venezuela).
Whilst Navarro is a bit of a mystery man, Englishman Martin Murray is generally considered to be one of the top 10 or so Middleweights in the world with rankings from Ring Magazine (#8) and Boxrec (#10) to back this up. Whilst Murray himself hasn't scored any massive wins, he was unlucky last year, in his most notable bout so far to only draw with German Felix Sturm.
As well as the result against Sturm, Murray holds notable victories over the likes of Carlos Nascimento, Shalva Jomardashvili and Siarhei Khomitski. All much more proven, and higher quality opponents than anyone Navarro has faced so far. With this in mind it's hard to see anything but a victory for Murray.
Although Murray's record doesn't show it, he's a hard working fighter who throws a solid amount of leather with a hurtful dig. His shots aren't concussive but they are nasty, especially to the body which I expect will be the key here as he looks to attack Navarro's body early on and drag the visitor in to the middle rounds before forcing a stoppage.
Prediction-Murray TKO7
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