John Murray battling it out with Gary Buckland / Photo © Chris Royle - More Murray/Buckland Photos

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Dave Oakes recaps Friday's European & British lightweight title clash between John Murray and Gary Buckland.  Check out the Murray/Buckland Photo Gallery.

John Murray added the European title to his British belt on Friday night after stopping a brave but out of his depth Gary Buckland in the eleventh round of yet another entertaining domestic fight.

Buckland surprisingly elected to stand and trade with the physically stronger Murray. I had expected him to try and use his speed more but he obviously felt he was more suited trying to drag Murray into the trenches. Unfortunately for him, Murray is one of the strongest and skilful inside fighters in Britain.

The fight was fought at a tremendous pace right from the opening bell; Murray landed a hard right hook to the body early, which was a sign of things to come as he relentlessly smashed hooks into Buckland’s rib cage. Buckland was happy to trade and delivered a well timed right hook just before the rounds end but it was Murray’s round.

The second round saw the continuation of the toe to toe battle of the opening session; Buckland landed a jolting uppercut before he was caught himself by two straight rights from the champion. Buckland seemed to be holding his own until late in the round when another Murray right had him looking bothered, he wasn’t badly hurt but you tell the punch had registered.

Murray took the third round with ease; he was beginning to push Buckland back and was landing numerous punches to Buckland’s body. The challenger was still throwing plenty of shots himself but Murray was blocking most of them. It’s got to be said that Murray’s defence has been much improved recently; he’s showed far better technique in his past two or three fights.

The fourth was similar to the third, both combatants were busy but the cleaner and heavier shots were coming from Manchester’s Murray.

Buckland finally won a round in the fifth, his heart and determination appeared to be surprising Murray, who had a quieter round than previously. Buckland upped his already high work-rate and landed a couple of solid hooks for good measure to edge the round on my card.

Normal service was resumed in the sixth, which was another fantastically entertaining round. Buckland seemed to be spurred on by his successes in the fifth and went flying at Murray, who wasn’t shy in responding. Again, it was Murray who was doing the superior work, catching the majority of Buckland’s punches on his gloves and landing some head snapping uppercuts.

The impetus swung massively in Murray’s favour in the seventh, he was still looking fresh whilst Buckland was beginning to feel the pace, and this had a major effect on proceedings as Murray began to bully Buckland. To make matters worse for Buckland, his nose went after Murray landed another brutal uppercut bang on the target.

Murray started to hammer Buckland in the eighth; he couldn’t seem to miss, landing hefty blows to body and head. A massive right uppercut midway through the round hurt Buckland, who bravely fought back, but I sensed that the end wasn’t too far away.

Buckland was hurt badly just before the bell, Murray connected with right hook that had his opponent buckling at the knees, yet again he fired back but there was little weight behind his punches.

Buckland went back to his corner with a look of resignation on his now swollen face. I wouldn’t have been surprised if his corner had pulled him out at that point, but they let the fight continue and Buckland bravely battled away in the desperate hope that he might land a fight finishing punch.

The ninth and tenth rounds were hard rounds for Buckland; he was completely outgunned by the non-stop Murray, who was looking as fresh as he had when making his ring walk. The body punching of Murray was most impressive, he was drawing audible gasps and winces from ringsiders as he landed hook after sickening hook.

You could see that the referee was waiting for an opportunity to stop the fight but Buckland valiantly kept throwing punches back.

The end finally came in the eleventh when Murray landed a vicious right uppercut that noticeably made Buckland’s legs wobble, Murray threw a few follow shots, none of which landed cleanly, before the referee jumped in to save Buckland from taking further punishment.

I pretty much wrote Buckland off before this fight but feel I may have been too harsh on him. His reputation has been enhanced greatly after the effort he put in here. Whilst he never looked capable of beating Murray, he showed that he’s got a big heart to go with decent skills and fast hands. At 23, he’s still got time to improve and go on to win a British title.

Murray is now unbeaten in 29 fights (17 early) and is ready to take a step up in class. He claimed the Lonsdale belt outright with this win and I believe he should now concentrate on defending his newly acquired European title. I’d like to see him take on the likes of Guillaume Salingue and Anthony Mezaache over the next 6 months.

If he can come through bouts like those, which he should be able to, he won’t be too far away from a world title tilt. If Kevin Mitchell beats Katsidis this Saturday, it could set up a massive all British world title clash for next year.

On the undercard…

Prince Arron followed up his Prizefighter success by defeating Max Maxwell on points. Arron started brightly, using his speed advantage to good effect to outbox Maxwell, but he seemed to struggle as the fight went into the later rounds. His work became a bit ragged in the last three rounds but he did enough to take the decision 78-74 on the referee’s card.

John O’Donnell stopped Laszlo Balogh in the fifth round. O’Donnell was in control throughout and looked healthy at his new weight having moved down a division to light-welterweight.

He was catching his Hungarian foe with some quality combinations, especially the jab - straight right. The bout was called off after Balogh started to sag after a series of unanswered blows from O’Donnell. O’Donnell moves to 23-1 and has put himself in the title mix at his new weight.

Jamie McKeever’s career looks to be over after he lost his comeback fight against Dougie Curran. McKeever, boxing for the first time in two years, was floored twice in the opener. The first knockdown came from a chopping right, whilst the second was from a scuffing left hook that sent an already unsteady McKeever back down.

McKeever battled back in the following three rounds but lost 38-36 on the referee’s card. The former British champion has now lost his last five fights and would be better forgetting about this comeback. He’s been in plenty of wars in his career and nobody wants to see him go on for too long.

Former Commonwealth champion Paul Truscott out pointed Nikita Lukin over six rounds. Truscott had already beaten Lukin earlier in his career and was never in danger of losing the rematch. He took the decision 59-55.

Other Results:

Johnny Rocco beat Gavin Deacon on points, Liam Cullen beat Mark Lewis on points and Martin Ward out pointed Mo Khaled over four.

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