Murray seeking career lift-off against Buckland

John Murray is aiming to end months of frustration by beating Cardiff’s Gary Buckland when they meet for the vacant European lightweight title in Widnes this Friday. Murray’s British title will also be on the line on this Matchroom Sport promoted show. This hastily arranged match has been thrown together at three weeks notice following a catalogue of pull-outs and injuries which has left Murray seeking an opponent to contest the European crown with since October.

At still only 25, the 28-fight unbeaten Murray has potentially a great future ahead of him but could face another agonising spell on the sidelines if he was to lose against the unfancied Buckland.

“We’re not underestimating Gary Buckland at all. Gary’s on a winning run and has beaten some good fighters in Sam Rukundo, Istvan Nagy, Craig Docherty and Henry Castle. Like John he’s a young fighter who is very ambitious which will make him difficult to beat. He’s got quick hands, particularly with the left hook, and he maintains a high workrate,” said Murray’s trainer Joe Gallagher to BoxRec News.

“Had both boxers been given ten weeks notice for this fight then I would fancy Murray to stop Buckland in four or five rounds. But as they’ve only been given three weeks to prepare for this it makes it a much more level playing field. John’s been out of the ring for seventh months so it effectively feels like he is coming out of retirement.”

“It might take him a few rounds to get going but we are confident he’ll catch up with Buckland eventually. Gary started fast against Rukundo but he started to tire after halfway and so we are confident that John’s power will eventually prove decisive,” surmised the respected Manchester trainer.

Murray has endured a similar spell of inactivity in his career before. After capturing the British title with a fifth round stoppage of Lee Meager in July 2008, the Manchester slugger had to wait six months before making his maiden defence against Scotland’s Lee McAllister. The ring rust didn’t affect Murray too much though as he arguably produced a career best performance when stopping the fleet-footed Scot in eight rounds. Ironically, the pair were due to square off again for the European title only for an elbow injury to rule McAllister out of contention, handing Buckland his opportunity.

“I told John not to worry too much about winning the first four rounds providing he was making McAllister work hard which is what he did. I was pleased that John got him out of there in the end because had McAllister made it into the later rounds he would have started to see the finishing line which would have made him a dangerous fighter,” continued Gallagher.

“We’re hoping that ring rust won’t impact John too much this time. He’s now part of a busy gym and since his last fight against Jon Thaxton he’s had good sparring against the likes of Matthew Macklin, Anthony Crolla and his younger brother Joe. However, I am mindful that sparring is a bit like five-a-side football, it’s no substitute for the real thing of actually getting in the ring and competing competitively against an ambitious opponent.”

Murray, who is currently promoted by Hennessy Sports, will know that an impressive performance on Friday would place him in the spotlight to potentially meet the winner of domestic rival Kevin Mitchell’s WBO interim dust-up with Aussie banger Michael Katsidis later this month. Indeed, the world lightweight division is effectively wide open following the recent suicide of Edwin Valero.

“Hopefully this will be the last period of inactivity for Murray in his career. Boxing websites and trade magazines have followed John’s career closely which we are grateful for but we’d like to see him mentioned in the national newspapers now. Other British fighters hold public workouts so hopefully we can do the same going forward to increase Murray's profile,” reasoned Gallagher.

“John’s currently ranked amongst the top ten lightweights by The Ring magazine and If he wins this fight he’ll be 29-0 and British and European champion. We think that John is capable of establishing himself as a major fighter, not just in Britain, but also on the world scene and we now want to prove it.”