John Murray’s Promoter, Mick Hennessy – “John Would Smash Amir Khan To Pieces!”

14.07.08 – by James Slater: Without a doubt, the superb performance unbeaten John Murray put on on July 11th – when he made short work on Lee Meager to win the vacant British lightweight title – made it clear a fight between he and Amir Khan would be a very even match..

Murray, with his motivation and mental aspect up to speed, has never looked better than in his 5th round TKO over the tough Meager. As such, a meeting between the 23-year-old from Manchester and the 21-year-old star would be a very inserting bout. In the post-fight interview Murray mentioned Khan’s name, but he didn’t go as far as his promoter Mick Henessy did when he spoke about the possibility of a clash with Khan. Hennessy made no bones about the fact he believes his fighter would beat the Olympic silver medallist.

In an article that appeared in The Manchester Evening News, Hennessy said he hopes the fight will happen sooner rather than later.

“If Frank Warren [Khan’s promoter] wants to make the fight on September the 6th, I wouldn’t stand in the way, because it’s a fight that should be made,” Hennessy said. “As long as they are reasonable about what they want to pay John, we would be happy. On that form [in the Meager fight] John would walk through Khan, smash him to pieces. It just shows that John needs to fight at the top level to bring out the best in him.”

It’s true Murray has failed to look all that great in some of his fights, but if one puts this down to nothing more than insufficient motivation – as Hennessy does – the lightweight champ can be excused. Certainly, going by the form he showed in his last fight, the 23-year-old would have at least a 50/50 shot at beating Khan.

Murray also spoke about his future.

“I should have been British champion two years ago,” Murray stated. “But I had problems outside the ring and ran up some debts. Now I am free of debt, have the belt, and the sky is the limit. People keep asking about Khan, and I would love the fight, but to be honest I am setting sights on Jon Thaxton now. If Jon wins the European title in September by beating Juan Carlos Diaz Melero – we could fight for British and European.”

A Murray-Thaxton fight would be interesting also, but it is the Khan fight the fans really want to see.