Ringside Report Looks Back at British Boxer Joe Murray

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Joe Murray, 23-3, 10 KOs, burst onto the British boxing scene as one of the next big things. Following on from a relatively successful Olympic cycle at the 2008 Beijing Olympiad, we expected great things in the professional game from the likes of Murray because a template was being created – get into Team GB Boxing for the Olympics, do half decently, transfer into the professionals under a decent promoter and smash it on Sky or BT Sport, raise yourself in a fast track few fights to world level and bosh, you become a world level winner.

But the best laid schemes of man and beast are aft gang awry, because that template was still years away from happening…

Murray arrived a tad too early, and he arrived having had a first fight exit at the Olympics. It followed a bronze medal at the World Championships, so expectations were high for this Mancunian who had beaten the likes of Commonwealth silver medallist Bruno Julie of Mauritius, Carlos Cuadras, future WBC super flyweight champ but got beaten by Enkhbatyn Badar-Uuganin of Mongolia, in the semi-finals of the Worlds. Badar-Uuganin went on to win gold at the Beijing Olympics, so hardly a terrible loss on his record.

The 2008 Olympics for British boxing was a watershed. Investment was being made as the 2004 Olympics had seen a roommate of Murray’s Amir Khan bring back our only medal. This time round, David Price and Tony Jeffries both brought back bronze and James DeGale brought back a gold. It was not, however plain sailing for the Brits as the brightest star of the team, world champion Frankie Gavin failed to make weight and never fought. The team also included one Billy Joe Saunders, so the whole enterprise was far from short of personalities.

At the Olympics, Murray only fought Yu Gu of China and lost on points. There was some doubt over the validity of the scoring with the home boxer benefitting from what was generous scoring, but Murray was far from his best in the ring and could not claim – he was robbed, because he wasn’t.

And so, having returned home, Murray turned to the professional ranks and the amateur from Moss Side Boxing Club became the latest professional to sign with Ricky Hatton’s Hatton Promotions. And, in Altrincham’s Leisure Centre on the 28th of March 2009, Murray made a winning start by outpointing Sid Razak.

I loved watching Murray as he was exciting and when he fought one of my all-time favourite journeymen, Delroy Spencer on the 25th of September 2009 in Manchester, because I was keeping an eye on Spencer he was very much on my radar.

It took 4 years, however, for Murray to get the attention or the whiff of a belt. And in the Copper Box in London, on the 21st of September he stepped in against Liam Walsh for both the Commonwealth and WBO international super featherweight belts, Murray came up short. Losing a majority decision against Walsh was no disgrace and what felt like a minor setback.

Nearly 18 months later he was to fight Walsh again, this time for both the British and the Commonwealth super featherweight titles. Murray was to lose more convincingly this time and was stopped in the 5th round.

Murray rebuilt with a mixture of decent fighters and journeymen until on the 25th of February 2018, he went in against the powerhouse that was Lewis Ritson. Ritson was blasting everyone out of the way early and I thought Murray might be the one to take him at least into the second half of the fight. I was wrong. Ritson took less than 2 minutes to stop Murray in the first round.

Musing on the defeat, which was brutal, he told Boxing News’ John Dennen that, “… they offer you a load of money to fight in a short space of time. They knew I’d just be making weight in that time. Ritson’s good, he’s a good fighter but I reckon it would have been a closer fight if they gave me an eight-week camp like they gave everyone else, not a four-week camp.”
Murray never fought professionally again.

It was a decision that obviously took time for him to arrive at, as just after the Ritson defeat, he continued to tell Dennen that he was still very much in the game. His view of the professional game, however, was one which was very enlightening as he told Dennen, “If you don’t take [those opportunities] you get put back on the shelf. You can’t refuse to take them. I’ve got no promoter. When these opportunities come you have to take them. If you don’t take them, you’re just going to be sat on the shelf. So, if I didn’t take it they’d say they offered me the fight and I didn’t want it. I had no choice in the matter. That I’ve got no promoter now, I’ve got to wait. You’ve got to rebuild. In boxing everyone knows if you’re not in the spotlight or you’re not selling tickets, you’re going to struggle. I was an Olympian and I’ve seen both sides of it in a sense. If you’re not in the spotlight with Eddie Hearn or Frank Warren, you’re going to find it hard if you’re not selling tickets.

Promoters have got to make money, and they’ve got to build fighters up. That’s the sad reality about professional boxing. When they’ve invested money, they don’t want them fighters beat. The way they can do that is by giving a boxer short notice or getting them off the couch as they used to say.”

Now, you can spot Murray in corners, making his presence felt in more of a background sense which seems to suit him better. There is a lot of knowledge and experience in him, and the great thing is that it does not seem to be lost to the sport.

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