MARTIN MURRAY wants to fight George Groves in a mouth-watering domestic showdown later this year as negotiations begin to get the fight made.
Murray’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed earlier today that talks have been held with Team Sauerland, who handle Groves, about a potential fight in the summer.
The St Helens super-middleweight unsuccessfully challenged for world honours three times while at middle, and was outpointed by WBO 168lb champ Arthur Abraham in November.
Murray was ringside to watch Groves halt Andrea Di Luisa in five rounds in January, although the 33-year-old found it hard to draw any major conclusions.
“He did well, controlled the fight with his jab. There wasn’t much coming back from Di Luisa, but he did well. He’s got a great jab. You can’t really judge him on that performance because there wasn’t much coming back,” he told Boxing News.
“He looked good. It’s hard to see what he’s got from it though, he did everything he needed to do.”
Groves is another who has fallen short at world level on more than one occasion. Two consecutive defeats to Carl Froch were followed by a narrow loss to WBC title-holder Badou Jack in September.
His win over Di Luisa was the first under new trainer Shane McGuigan, and the Londoner is keen to get back into the title mix.
Murray feels the pair should meet in order to decide who should get another crack at world honours.
“It’s a fight that maybe needs something on the line for it, maybe a world title eliminator, but I’m confident of winning,” he said.
“I missed out on the domestic fights at middleweight, I went from fighting Nick Blackwell straight into fighting [Felix] Sturm. Then I tried to get fights with the likes of [Darren] Barker and [Matthew] Macklin and it never happened so I went my own way.”
Murray will box in Manchester on May 7 as chief support to Anthony Crolla’s WBA world lightweight title defence against Ismael Barroso.
While a fight between Groves and Murray is attractive at face value, Martin is keen to ensure there is more incentive for the both of them in their world title pursuits.
“There’s no point in us just fighting for the sake of fighting, there needs to be something there,” he said.
“I am a world-class fighter and people have only given me a chance when they think they can beat me, in their own country with their officials.
“I don’t think I’ll get champions, or people like George, offering me fights just for the sake of it. I’d love the fight, as I would with any domestic fight. Paul Smith, Callum Smith, James DeGale – all of them.”
The only governing body which ranks both of them highly is the WBC, but with Callum set to box in a final eliminator on April 2 and with champion Badou Jack defending his title against Lucien Bute that same month, there could be a long wait for a shot.
