MARTIN MURRAY revealed he could be in line to challenge the winner of Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, and has put to bed his feud with Billy Joe Saunders.
The Merseyside man was last seen outpointing Mexican Roberto Garcia at the London O2 Arena in June, picking up the WBC Silver middleweight title in the process.
That win not only earned Murray the WBC understudy belt, it also elevated him to be ranked second within the sanctioning body, and the 35 year-old revealed if he is to defend the belt a future fight with the winner of the Golovkin-Canelo rematch could be imminent.
“I’m looking at around November or December for a defence of the WBC Silver title I won,” Murray told Boxing News.
“I’m number two with the WBC, I’ve got to make one defence of that and then I’m mandatory for the winner of Golovkin and Canelo, I’m told. I’ve just got to wait for a date.”
As the middleweight division hold their breath over the winner of the highly anticipated Golovkin-Canelo rematch, Murray admitted he doesn’t object to fighting either man, despite picking former opponent ‘GGG’ to triumph over Alvarez.
Murray said: “They’re both hard fights, Golovkin was my toughest fight and I’d obviously want a second crack at him to get the chance to put a wrong, right, but Canelo is a massive name, he’s a modern day great.
“I’ve been in with the likes of Golovkin, Sergio Martinez, and a few others but fighting someone like him would be a different experience.
“It would be a tough fight, I’ve fought Golovkin and I would like to fight Canelo, but obviously I wouldn’t refuse either one of them I want to fight the best and those two are the best out there.
“Whoever wins, wins I just hope the decision is right. I thought Golovkin was hard done by in his first fight and I just hope if he does win, or if Canelo wins, that they give it to the right person, but I am picking Golovkin by stoppage.”
As Murray finds himself seemingly only a fight away from a rematch with Golovkin or a lucrative match-up with Canelo, it could have been so different for the middleweight.
Before beating Garcia to earn his title and ranking, Murray was set to face WBO king Saunders, however, the fight fell through on two occasions after Billy Joe pulled out with injuries.
Initially Murray didn’t take too kindly to Saunders inability to fight him, and the WBO champion fired back, with both men taking aim at each other online.
However, it seems now the feud has ended, for Murray at least, as he admitted to moving on from the debacle and even wished Saunders luck with his world title defence against American Demetrius Andrade which takes place on October 20, in Boston, Massachusetts.
“I’ve moved on for it, I’m not bothered by it now,” Martin said on reflection of the cancelled fights with Saunders.
“Obviously I was a bit p***ed of by it at the time, because it upset me a bit, not because of the fight, but all the trouble in the fight camps and all the time you put into training.
“Luckily (promoter) Frank (Warren) and MTK got me that fight and it was still a meaningful fight but I was just gutted it wasn’t a world title fight.
“I was obviously a bit bitter about it but now I’m not bothered at all. I wish him luck and I hope he goes over there and beats Andrade, he’s got a tough fight.
“I’m not bitter at all about what’s gone on I do want him to win as I’d rather an English lad have the world title than it being someone over in America. I’m not bothered about it now I wish him luck.”
