The top two middleweights in the world squared it off at the Salle des Étoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco last night with the WBA/IBO regular and WBC interim titles at stake and it seemed only fair for this fight to take place in Europe. Both combatants grew up on opposite ends of this continent but one of them may have inadvertently wandered off it on a regular basis. Murray is strictly branded as a European although as an islander he might have second thoughts about continental bondage. Golovkin’s continental status is a little more complicated as he comes from Kazakhstan and this vast land stretches through parts of Europe and Central Asia. Golovkin could have walked at times with one leg in Europe and the other in Asia. His father is Russian and his mother is Korean, so GGG is the proverbial Eurasian by birth and by country.
Boxing Results
Boxing results from all major fights worldwide
Price and Fury move closer to title contention with solid wins
David Price beat Irineu Beato Costa Junior via a sixth round TKO. Like Price, he had 2 losses on his record and was a decent fighter, but at the end of the day this is part of the rebuilding for Price and was a fight he was supposed to win. In 2012, Price was in a great place. He had just stopped domestic heavyweights Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton in a combined 3 rounds to defend his British and Commonwealth straps and was looking for an entry into the top of the world scene. Two back to back KO losses to Tony Thompson and he was back at the bottom and seemed to have nowhere to go. He decided to go through the slow process of rebuilding his reputation and in 2014 banked away three decent wins to start this process.
David Price – ‘I wanted to stay patient’
He was asked if he felt that he was too cautious in the first part of the fight. Many felt that Price was getting in rounds against a guy who was there for the taking and when given a big chance to shine like this Price should have shown himself to be a better fighter than he was on the night. Price replied to this by saying that he couldn’t listen to the people who would have him going in and taking risks from the first round. He wanted to box behind the jab, he wanted to build his confidence and get some rounds in, he wanted to wait for an opportunity before opening up the offence and turning up the pace, and to his credit when he found that opportunity he was brutally efficient.
Martin Murray reacts to stoppage defeat at the hands of Gennady Golovkin
‘First time I have been properly beat, and first time I have been stopped.’
In an interview with IFL TV after his fight with triple G it was obvious the disapointment that Martin Murray was feeling. He put in a spirited effort and did a lot more than many thought he was capable, but eventually was beaten by the king of the Middleweight division.
Murray showed good sportsmanship in saying it was a pleasure to share the ring with such a good fighter, but felt as though there was nothing more he could do in the ring to pull off the upset. Murray discussed the fact that in his career he had never been put down by any head or bodyshot and dealing with that for the first time in his career, three times in the fight was tough.
Abraham defeats Smith; Price defeats Costa Junior
Smith came back later and had a good round in the 6th after hurting Abraham with a beautiful left to the body. But instead of continuing to go to the body in the remainder of the fight, Smith wasted his efforts in throwing shots into the high guard of Abraham. Those shots were blocked, and this enabled Abraham to dominate from the 7th round. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111.
Golovkin destroys Murray; Fury defeats Rudenko
Murray looked a lot bigger than Golovkin tonight, and that might be one of the reasons why he was able to survive for so long. Murray looked at least 180 pounds, and he appeared to have a significant weight advantage over Golovkin. The fight was like watching a talented middleweight take on a light heavyweight or a small cruiserweight without power.
Adams, Gasparyan, Thompson & Skorokhod Progress In ESPN Boxcino 154 lb Tournament
In Quarter number 1, 25 year old Ukrainian Skorokhod (9-0, 7 kos) dominated southpaw Michael Moore (13-1, 6 kos) from Cleveland, Ohio, scoring a four round TKO.
Right hands did the trick. Moore was dropped 29 seconds into the third but survived as Skorkhod went for one big punch. It came in the fourth, a right hand around Moore’s high guard, with referee Mike Ortega stopping it at 1.03.
Prizefighter – The Middleweights III – Ringside Review
Unbeaten middleweight Tom Doran 14-0 (4KO’s) collected the 34th Prizefighter trophy tonight and more importantly a £34,000 cash injection that at this stage of his career is massive.
The 27-year-old started superbly dropping Craig Cunningham with a powerful straight right hand in his first round of his quarter final, to progress to the semi finals.
Doran proceeded to dispose of pre-tournament favourite with a controlled performance behind a strong jab that saw him win out 29-28 on all judges’ scorecards to set up a meeting with previous Prizefighter finalist Cello Renda.
Brian Rose catastrophically stopped in one
Disaster struck for Blackpool’s Brian Rose tonight when Carson Jones, 37-10-3 (27KO’s) dramatically stopped him inside the first round.
Rose, 26-3-1 (8KO’s) was stepping in the ring for only the second time since his unsuccessful WBC World light middleweight title tilt against Demetrius Andrade, when he was stopped in 7. The first of which was an encouraging first round stoppage over Ignacio Lucero Fraga in Leeds in October.
Mora outpoints Han
Former WBC 154 pound titlist Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9 kos) scored a twelve round split decision over Abie Han (23-2, 14 kos) in the main event of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights card in Biloxi Mississippi.
WBC # 10/ WBA # 14/ IBF # 14 rated Mora, 34, picked up the vacant USBA 160 pound strap.
“The Latin Snake” controlled the majority of the first nine rounds striking with several sharp shooting right hands before the tough Han rallied late.
WBO # 13/ IBF # 15 Han scored a knockdown in round ten which seemed to spur him on as he aggressively pursued the faster Mora in the final rounds.