John and Joe Murray Get Ready for a Busy 2007 by Terry Dooley Apr 2nd 2007

BBN paid an early morning visit to see the Murray brothers – John the professional and Joe the highly-regarded amateur – a few Saturdays ago to see how both were progressing in their training for 2007. We were lured by the promise of early-morning sparring and the promise came good as John took part in some tasty rounds with Paul Truscott (Paul looked sharp during the sparring and this showed last week as he beat Peter Feher in a single round in Dublin). For his part Joe Murray prepared for an International tournament appearance by taking on Rob Nelson in rounds that were hard, fair and ultimately, for Nelson, bloody. Both the Murray's had reason to be in good spirits after a winning start to 2007 but John in particular was in particularly good spirits after welcoming his first child into the household. In an interesting piece of synergy my own cousin welcomed his own child into the world the following week, how is that interesting? My cousin is called Rob Nelson. As Dusty (Springfield, not Bin) once said, spooky. Joe Gallagher had brought Truscott in after reading that John would struggle with long-armed boxers. Truscott certainly suited the boxer bill and his body shape was perfect for giving John some movement, a solid jab and, as it turned out, plenty of fighting defiance. When watching a fight you look for perfection from a fighter. Even if he is still at the fledgling level you look for a perfect display of fledgling skills. In sparring, at any level, you look for development not perfection. John certainly showed development in the six rounds BBN watched. Against Truscott he was facing someone purposely chosen to whip jabs in and give him problems to overcome. As the rounds wore on John threw some hurtful shots and cut off the ring well. Truscott showed decent lateral movement and a sound jabbing technique to present John with the problems required. John's solution was to bring a hurtful left hook cum uppercuts to the party, to the body and head. It was backed-up by left hooks to the body as John pursued his target in the knowledge that in this type of fight, against this type of opponent, he would have to put the spadework in to make a lasting impression. John has a sense of calmness in the ring that is impressive to see up-close. BBN grabbed John after sparring to ask him a few questions. BBN: Congratulations on the baby John. John Murray: “Thanks, I'm made up with it to be honest. I was at the birth and when you see what happens, well it is tougher than boxing really! I read an article about how hard it is and said it wouldn't be harder than doing ten rounds in a boxing match but can I tell you that (childbirth) is tougher!” BBN: How has your training been going since your last fight? JM: “Good. We decided not to take the fight on the Thaxton bill because of the baby and that. You are not sleeping much and it is hard enough training never mind having a fight. We thought it was best to be wise before the event and not after so I can just concentrate on the next fight.” BBN: Are you going to do some light training or crank it up? JM: “Well I had a week off last week and I'm just settling back down with the sparring.” BBN: So will you be getting out for a fight soon? JM: “Yeah, hopefully it will be on a big show against a good opponent so I can have a good year and move on with things.” BBN: How are you feeling about the year ahead? JM: “Yeah, I think I did well when I fought last and have got back to my exciting style after feeling a bit flat in some of my performances last year. I am going to crank it up and just want to get out there and that last opponent was a fairly tough one.” BBN: Any word on a potential next opponent? JM: “I just want a good one you know, not a Kevin Mitchell (or) Amir Khan type of opponent. We were talking about fighting a US lad who is undefeated with ten knockouts. You need a good opponent to fight and you won't find your other British prospects fighting anyone with more than three knockouts.” BBN: Is it frustrating to be apart of a British scene where the prospects do not seem to fight each other? JM: “Yes, I think it would be great for British boxing if everyone got their heads together and if we all fought each other on the way through it would be best for the sport. In football all the fans love it when Manchester teams play the teams from down south and the fans would love it if they could get me and Kevin Mitchell to fight.” BBN: Would Jon Thaxton be a possibility? BBN: “I only got to see four rounds of the last fight but he looked good. Jon is a good Champion but I think there are a few things that can be exploited. Although he is very experienced and ring-wise I would love to fight him because he is the best in Britain at the moment.” There was no let-up in the sparring and no let-up for BBN because immediately after John and Truscott exited ring left Joe Murray bounced right in the ring ready for his mornings work. Joe was preparing for a bout and Rob Nelson is the kind of sparring partner to give Joe the edge needed in the amateur ranks. As Joe advances towards the 2008 Olympics he will take on some canny operators, guys who can mix-up the pick and poke amateur style with some pro-like shots. Against Nelson Joe was initially a little scatty, his legs working more than his fists. This was to prove temporary as Joe settled down and found his range. In many ways Joe showed the perfect amateur template. Movement followed by straight punching, then straight punching varied with screw-shots and hooks. By working in this way Joe can ensure that he uses his movement in the early rounds of amateur bouts whilst settling into the scoring pattern you need, the hooked shots and power punches are a bonus for him at that level. In the amateur game standing eight counts are given out liberally when power shots get through, the counts get you a clean point and make a point to your opponent, his team and, importantly, the sometimes-myopic judges. Nelson is a little battler, the main battle for Joe was to plant his feet – and his flag – in centre-ring and Joe did this well. A cut under the right eye of Nelson was testament to the accuracy of Joe's shots. After the fight Joe told BBN that at first he was running but he settled down on his shots: Joe Murray: “It helps to spar with pros because it prepares you for fighting the Cubans and Russians and gets you using body shots and stuff like that.” Joe Gallagher explained his sparring philosophy to BBN after the rounds were in the bank. JG: “Both lads are where I want them to be now. John had some good rounds against Truscott who is a good, tough kid. John is being given problems to solve and when people present those problems in fights he will have solutions to them. There are a couple of things we can watch on video and he we can work on.” “John is coming to the boil nicely and we kept him sparring to keep his eye in. We dropped it down a level in the training and kept the quality sparring up as you saw with the six rounds today.” BBN: I see John is still whipping the left hooks to the body in. JG: “Yes, we watch the Mexican fighters like Barrera and Marquez so John can pick things up from them and the left hook to the body is a pet shot for John but we work on the straight shots as well because you have to mix it up. You need a B and a C plan and that is what we are working on at the moment.” BBN: Are you pleased with Joe's progress? JG: “I'm chuffed to bits with Joe, he got a great Bronze medal at a tournament out in Bulgaria and both are by no means the finished product. Everyone is pleased with Joe and he has the Olympics to aim for to really make himself a name in the amateur game. He has got talent but it is up to him to fulfil that talent. The opponents won't beat them they will only beat themselves.” In Place of an Epilogue: A week after the fight Joe was showcasing his attributes against a shorter, Rob Nelson alike, opponent on an International showcase shown on the BBC as Joe took on Janos Mihaly from Hungary. It was a fight that Joe Gallagher could have described as a near whitewash. When BBN watched the DVD of the fight with Joe Murray and Joe Gallagher in the gym last week Joe Gallagher refrained from being over-opulent in his praise of his charge. Understandably he, perhaps, did not want young Joe to get a big head. BBN, however, has no such restrictions and Joe performed very, very well. The young amateur drew praise from the written press as well as the BBC team and you can see why. After setting the scene early with right uppercut Joe threw some straight shots as well as turning under screwed left uppercuts followed by right hands. Mihaly took two standing counts – one in the second from a clean one-two and the follow-up, the next was in the fourth from an uppercut. By the fourth Mihaly was also in danger of losing on the amateur mercy rule. At the end the scoring was 32-11. After BBN had watched Joe spar Nelson the proceeding week we had joked about Joe's Hungarian Hoodoo and asked when it was going to end. Mihaly is a Hungarian, the fight, due to amateur rules, was scored by Hungarians. The Hoodoo is over. Roll on Beijing 2008. Photos by Allan Stevenson

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