Post-fight Interviews from Wigan by Terry Dooley Jul 13th 2008

After fight reaction from Wigan after John Murray's British title win against Lee Meager on Friday   After his British title win a jubilant Murray told BBN:     “This is what I got into boxing for.  I've been flat in a few fights but when I get a live opponent the atmosphere is great and that brings out the best in me.  Being British Champion means a lot to me.  I got stopped in my second amateur fight but have come a long way since and trained hard with Joe to become a British Champion.  I thank (trainer) Joe (Gallagher) for that.   “Me and Joe have been together from the start and everything I do is down to Joe because he looks after me inside and outside of the ring.  I want to do the business in England first and become a European Champion.  I'm not going to call out people like Nate Campbell and guys like that because they are the top of the division and I've got to take care of business over here first.     “Joe said to me that I should have been British Champion two years ago so I feel the shot has been overdue.  In the last couple of years I've had a few problems in the ring financially and had to get myself out of debt and ticking over financially.   “Jon Thaxton is the one I want to fight next.  If he wants a shot at the British title again I can give it him.  Or he could win the European and we do it for both (titles).   Prior to this fight I had interviewed John, as we had sat talking in his car he had spoken about his concerns over making a life changing amount of money in boxing, intelligent enough to be realistic about the nature of the sport, comparatively very few earn huge money from it, John had talked about the Meager fight being a chance to become financially secure in the short-term, as well as enabling him to train for a career post-boxing.  Now, though, some big nights beckon for Murray, yet he still acknowledges that the post-boxing landscape requires a clear post-retirement strategy.   “I will start looking at things (training for a longer career) in September because you cannot box forever and it is only the very elite – guys like Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe – who make enough money to retire on.  I'd like to have something to fall back on because as good as my performance was today I could go and get knocked-out next time and you need something to fall back on [in the case of a KO the canvas] in the future.  It is great to get a big win but you've got to keep yourself level and make sure you have options to rely on after boxing.   “The paydays will become better now and I think the performance tonight was too good to force Amir Khan to take me on in September.  If it were down to me I would cancel my holiday and fight Amir Khan next week, and the week after that.  You know that fights with Amir Khan are going to be lively and earn lots of money.  I want to be the first (man) to beat Amir Khan.   “I don't want to say (that) me and Amir would have a Benn-Eubank type fight because they were world champions…but I think we could have a great rivalry.  We're both unbeaten and one man could easily beat the other so we could have a great trilogy there, with me winning.  A fight between me and Amir would set British boxing alight.   “I was over the moon with the stoppage in this fight.  I fancied getting him quite early, I thought round three or four, but it turned out to be round five…he took some big shots.  Lee is one tough, tough cookie because I hit him with shots that would have put a lot of lightweights away.   “I was ultra-confident.  Even last night I was calm.  Joe was talking about boxing and talking about boxing and it was just doing my head in.  I just wanted to chill out and watch a film.  I'd done all the work and knew I was ready.”   Trainer Joe Gallagher feels that the fight is a vindication of his decision to become a professional boxing trainer, he told BBN:   “I feel quite emotional.  It has been a hard seven years in the pro game and this is a defining moment for me.  I always knew the kid had potential and it is really hard when you are on your own.  It is just me, John and Joe.    “The criticism we received hurts.  I'm not a tortoise, I haven't got a hard shell and the criticism hurts you and hits you a little bit.    “I want to thank my family for supporting me and enabling me to carry on and help John achieve his dream.  My family stuck behind me and that's why I got my son into the ring at the end of the fight.  I put a lot of time into the Murray's and tonight they paid me back in full and I'm very pleased.  It was punch perfect performance and as you know that is the name of my camp.  All I need is for Joe to get an Olympic medal this summer and I'll have achieved everything I had hoped for in boxing.”   Reading the Internet forums had been a painful experience for Gallagher in recent times, prior to the fight he had told me that he would look forward to seeing what was said on the Internet after John's victory, however he does not feel the need to log-on himself, John's performance would do the talking for him:   “I don't have to say anything.  I will watch the fight and get my satisfaction from that.  John has just beaten one of the best lightweights in the country in Lee Meager.  John is not fighting a blown-up super-featherweight he is fighting the former British lightweight Champion.  He destroyed him in five rounds, something Jon Thaxton couldn't do.  Actions speak louder than words and John's performance said everything.”   Gallagher no longer feels that the onus is on John to prove he deserves an Amir Khan fight, Murray is the British Champion, a fight with Thaxton would cement his status as the best British lightweight, meaning Khan would have to fight Murray or dodge the domestic scene, Gallagher claimed:    “The thing is at the end of the day Amir is up there but has been put over himself…we've proven tonight that when it comes to the crunch we put our money where our mouth is.”   Promoter Mick Hennessy also spoke to BBN about Murray's future options:     “We would love the Amir Khan fight.  That is where we want to go next.  We would sit down and talk about the Amir Khan fight without any problems.  I believe that based on that performance there John walks through Khan.  He would be too big, too strong and too powerful.   “If they (Team Khan) want to do the right thing by British boxing, and stop swerving the big fights, they should make the fight happen, it is what we want.  John has just fought a live, dangerous, hard case in Lee Meager and that is something Amir Khan has not done.  As far as we are concerned the fight should go on.     “If you are prepared to represent your country in the Olympics (as Khan did) you shouldn't swerve the British title.  The British title is the prize title, the one everyone wants and Amir should be proud to fight for the title.  They are talking about having world title fights, fight for the British title and you will be fighting for one of the best titles in world boxing.”   I went to speak to Lee Meager shortly after the fight only to find the beaten boxer reclining on a bench surrounded by his family.  After leaving him for a while promoter Hennessy later took me back to the dressing room where a disconsolate Meager spoke to BBN:   “I am disappointed you know.  I did everything I needed to do in the gym and have no excuses; it just wasn't there on the night.  The one thing that I knew would work was to take him into deep waters late on but the marks on my face didn't allow that because the ref jumped in a little bit early, but that is not my problem.   “The stoppage was a little but premature but the quibbles I've got are with myself, not with the referee.  I wanted to box, that was the plan, and we knew he was tight at the weight and would tire, but I just couldn't get my timing going.  It just wasn't there.  My problem wasn't with losing it is just that I got marked up early and dragged myself into a war.  I couldn't do anything else.  I knew that I wasn't hurt and he was breathing heavy, I'd done the work and think (that if it went) a couple of rounds later I'd have had the success but it wasn't the way it went.   “I'm going to speak to Robert (McCracken) but I think that is probably it for me now.  If it is not there on a night like this it is never going to be there.  I wasn't flat on the night.  It was the first time in 26 pro fights that I've done everything by the book only for it not to be there on the night.”   It certainly was a brave fight from Lee and if it is to be the last testament to his ability as a fighter then it is one that speaks volumes about his toughness and heart, speaking to him it was clear that referee Foster had done the right thing by pulling him out as Lee would simply have refused to quit no matter what he was hit with.   Ringside bips and baps:   I almost had to give this fight a miss after a last-minute vehicle hitch a prompted frantic search by BBN photographer Big Al for a new car.  Negotiations for the use of a car with a lollypop lady in the nearby area were disturb at a crucial point when a local trainer stepped in and allowed us to take his car for the night.   During a quiet moment I managed to grab a few words with Sky commentator Jim Watt.  I had recently re-watched his fight with talented American Howard Davies Junior and Watt told me that Davies was a tougher fighter than his flashy style would have suggested.  We briefly discussed the British lightweight title fight between Watt and Scottish boxing legend Ken Buchanan.  Watt said that the fight had come too early in his career and such was the talent and skill of Ken Watt found himself out-boxed down the finals stretch of a learning fight.  Watt was even happy to briefly discuss his fight with Nicaraguan legend Alexis Arguello, however he had to cut the conversation short, citing that whenever he talks about the fight: “My nose starts to bleed again!”   Manchester's worst kept secret came out into the open last night as Matthew Hatton confirmed that he is leaving trainer Billy Graham.  Citing a mutual split Hatton will now work with trainers Lee Beard and Bobby Rimmer.  Hatton is coming off a disappointing loss at the hands of Craig Watson and hopes that the change in camp can galvanise his final years in the sport of boxing.   Talking to Murray after the fight I asked him if his upturn in form for this fight was the result of copying this writer's crew cut and facial hair combination.  Realising the jig was up Murray gave credit where it was due claiming that: “It has been a huge help yeah, and I think the girls out there should be thanking you as well!”   Promoter Hennessy was keen to point out that negotiations for a fight between Carl Froch and American Jermain Taylor are very much in progress.  Pointing out that these negotiations are often difficult Hennessy assured me that: “I am working on these fights all the time.”  A Froch-Taylor fight is an exciting prospect, even though this writer feels that Taylor's top-level experience will negate ‘The Cobra's' boot smoking powers.   After taking care of the dressing room interviews I returned to ringside to find that the ring card girls had put on an impromptu photo shoot for the remaining snappers.  A passing security guard stopped me to ask me why the Internet sites are not running a ‘Security Guard of the week' section.  I'll leave that one for the site owner to ponder.     Murray's karaoke sessions at the pub across the road from me are infamous in the local area.  I have caught him topping up on Lucozade in the local shop after such sessions.  After last nights fight I took my dog for a walk and saw that the lights were still burning in the upstairs rooms of Murray's karaoke haven.  There was no sign of him in the shop this morning but I swear that the strains of ‘I am the British Champion' were drifting from the pub across the way. Photos: Allan Stevenson

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