By Ian S Palmer
Anthony Crolla takes on John Murray in an interesting lightweight tilt on Saturday, April 19 in Manchester, England. The two rivals have stirred up a lot of interest in Britain and this is one of the most anticipated fights of the year over there. The 29-year-old Murray is a former European and British champion and was out of action for two years after dropping a world title bout to Brandon Rios back in 2011. Interestingly, he took up the art of cooking during his absence.
Murray’s time away from the ring wasn’t voluntary though as he lost his boxing license in his homeland when brain scans found that he had a swollen pituitary gland. The former champion said he realized just how much he loves the sport when he was forced to stay away from it. Murray, who used to be a bit of a partier, added that he learned to take his diet and nutritional intake a lot more seriously once he became interested in cooking.
Making weight is important to Murray these days as he learned a lesson back in 2009 when he was stripped of the British title for being overweight before a title defence against Scott Lawton. This new attitude by Murray towards the sport could spell trouble for the 27-year-old Crolla as his opponent now seems to be a man on a mission and is hoping to eventually regain his titles and earn another shot at a world championship.
Murray will climb through the ring ropes with a record of 33-2 with 20 Kos to his name while Crolla comes in with a mark of 27-4-1 with 10 Kos. They’re both about the same height at 5-foot-8, but Murray has a slight reach advantage at 70 inches to 67 inches. Since both of these boxers are from Manchester nobody really has the home town edge here and the fan base will probably be split 50-50. These two know each other well and it should be an entertaining contest.
Crolla is unbeaten in his last five outings with four wins and a draw. Unfortunately for him the draw came in a British Commonwealth title showdown with Derry Mathews. However, Crolla has managed t capture the English Lightweight Championship in a bout against Kieran Farrell as well as winning the WBO Inter-Continental crown by beating Gavin Rees. Crolla has lost four bouts in his career with two of them coming to Gary Sykes. Mathews also managed to stop Crolla in the sixth round in 2012 when they fought the first time and it’s his only loss by stoppage.
Murray has only lost twice as a pro, but both of them were by brutal knockouts. He was stopped by Kevin Mitchell in the eighth round in 2011 and took Rios to the 11th round before being dropped by the champion. This is Murray’s third time back in the ring since returning last year and his second bout in 2014. He stopped both of his opponents and had also stopped seven out of 10 before losing to Mitchell and Rios.
Prediction
Murray has more experience than Crolla and has been in with the tougher opponents. However, it seems when he steps up in class his progress has stalled. Crolla’s a good opponent, but doesn’t really have the power to stop Murray. But Murray on the other hand, does have enough power to stop Crolla. Look for this to be a give-and-take fight with Murray taking it by decision or a late stoppage.
