John Murray v Andriy Kudryavstev
Manchester’s EBU lightweight champion John Murray takes to the ring to defend his title against Andriy Kudryavstev in Wigan tomorrow night, looking to put a dogged performance against Gary Buckland behind him and focus on moving his career up to the next level.
Murray came through a scrappy, high-tempo encounter with Buckland in May, overcoming a mid-fight slump and a gutsy opponent winning via an 11th-round TKO to maintain his unblemished record. Rumour has it that tomorrow night’s bout will act as a pre-cursor to Murray’s top-level fight debut, possibly against Victor Ortiz. Still, he won’t be looking past Kudryavstev and he has an interesting opponent in the form of the five-foot seven-and-a-half-inch Ukrainian.
Kudryavstev has a very strange record of 35-7. Nothing odd about that, until you notice that he lost his first three in a row, then another in the next two making it four defeats in his first five. All together after his first nine fights he had a record of 4-5, so it’s remarkable he even bothered to keep going let alone turn it around to one of 35-7. He’s obviously a slow starter because after that woeful start he embarked on a 20-fight five-year unbeaten streak, before tasting defeat once again to unbeaten Namibian Paulus Moses and former EBU champion Anthony Mezaache.
Bizarre records apart, Kudryavstev is another off the production belt of tough eastern European fighters. In terms of opponents he has never fought anyone of huge quality and, at 33 years old, he is around about his peak give or take a few years.
As a fighter he is a tough individual who likes to take up centre of the ring and bring the fight to the inside. He is particularly fond of throwing body shots and doesn’t like to dictate heavily, he is more about the counter-strike and will seize upon an opponent’s error. He has reasonable power boasting 15 KOs, a decent chin having only been stopped once, but realistically he is a limited fighter in terms of what he can throw out.
In comparison Murray needs to prove that his mid-fight wobble against Buckland in their explosive battle was a one off. If he wants to challenge at the top level he can’t be taken to the brink by fighters of Buckland’s calibre. No disrespect to the Welshman, who put on an outstanding and determined show, but he is not at the overall level that Murray is aiming for.
Murray does posses that all round quality that you need to succeed at the top level, good chin, decent movement, 17 KO’s in 20 fights shows the power and he throws a varied array of shots with a particularly potent right handed uppercut. To get to the top though he needs to be more conclusive with his fights and dictate the flow more and not allow them to find a way back in like he did with Buckland.
This fight should be a gritty grinding affair with Kudryavstev trying to draw Murray into a war in order to pick him off with tough shots to the ribs and counter attacking when Murray tries to hone in. Murray can go in with one of two strategies either engage him toe-to-toe and look to land the quicker combinations while covering up his body, or try and pick him off on the outside. It depends if he wants to grind it out or try and outbox his opponent.
If he comes through in style a big name is likely and possibly even a world title shot. Ortiz is the current favourite though, which would require a step up in division or a catch-weight. That would be a huge step up in class because Ortiz is in fantastic form and on the brink of gate crashing the elite party in the highly competitive 10-stone division, although he doesn’t currently hold a strap.
Other names being mooted are Daniel Estrada, Michael Katsidis, Juan Manuel Marquez and Humberto Soto, while fellow Englishman Kevin Mitchell would be a fantastic domestic fight.
Tonight he will be looking no further than getting through a tough opponent in Kudryavstev and defending his European title.
Once he has firmly conquered Europe, he can look at world domination.
Prediction: Murray ninth round KO
It’s hard to look past Murray for the win here. This is a gateway fight for him to move up to an elite level and so it is vital he wins and puts on a show while doing so.
Kudryavstev is a tough customer and he may drag Murray into a battle but the champ isn’t afraid to fight inside and he will match his gritty opponent the hard way if he has to.
The Ukrainian hasn’t pushed onto the elite and has only fought outside of Eastern Europe on three occasions. Murray should have enough to out-work him, land the more effective punch and should therefore take it by way of late stoppage.
On a side note this fight boasts a great undercard with the likes of former heavyweight contender Albert Sosnowski, Prizefighter champion Prince Arron as well as former amateur bantamweight champion and England representative John’s little brother, Joe.
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