Heartache for Murray as Commonwealth shot is postponed

Martin Murray’s vacant Commonwealth middleweight title fight against Francis Cheka this Friday has been scrapped after Cheka failed to make it into Britain from his base in Tanzania in time. The unbeaten Murray will instead box Germany’s Marco Schulze in a ten-round non-title contest on this Hatton Promotions show at Ponds Forge Arena in Sheffield.

The 32-year-old Schulze has 29 wins from his 36 contests (six defeats and one draw) but has lost his last two against unbeaten prospects Maksym Bursak (TKO 8) and Thomas Troelenberg (Pts 10).

Providing Murray emerges unscathed, the St Helens fighter’s Commonwealth title crack is expected to be resurrected for July on the undercard of Matthew Hatton’s European welterweight defence against Yuri Nuzhnenko in Bolton.