SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT contender Martin Murray has big plans in the division and has his sights set on the 168lbs world rulers.
Having made his debut at the weight last weekend in Liverpool, stopping George Beroshvilli in two, the St Helens man makes his next outing on July 18 in Manchester against an unnamed opponent.
The tree-time middleweight world title challenger was glad to return to the ring in his first fight since signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom and has high hopes for the rest of the year.
“It felt great to be back, I did the job I was supposed to do,” he told Boxing News.
“My next opponent on July 18 will be an improvement on the last, I’m not sure who it will be yet but we’ll keep moving forward.
“I’m really hoping to fight on the September 12 bill, that will be a big fight for me if I do.
“It won’t be a world title fight because I don’t think that makes much business sense at the moment. It would be better to build me up and get me a world title shot next year, then I can look at unifying.”
The 32-year-old admits he still has some studying to do of his new weight class, but is well aware of those operating at world level and plans to join them soon.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t really know much about the fighters at super-middleweight, I’m still learning. At middleweight I knew who everyone was, who was fighting who, how things worked politically but I’m new at super-middle.
“If I could choose a world champion to challenge, it would be the winner of Arthur Abraham–Robert Stieglitz. I’ve not seen much of Stieglitz but I know about Abraham.
“Then, hopefully George Groves beats Badou Jack and I could unify against Groves and then go on to fight James DeGale. That’s the beauty of being with such a good promoter in such a good division.”
Murray has previously spoken about returning to middleweight if he was made a lucrative offer, and he revealed Felix Sturm offered him a rematch of their thrilling 2011 draw last year.
“I’ve said I’d only move back down to middleweight for the right fights, and I mean financially.
“Early last year Felix Sturm offered me a rematch but the money was even worse than the first time round and so were the terms. I’ve got to think about my family and our future, so I had to turn it down.”
