After Saturday, it’s fair to go ahead and assume indefinitely that middleweight Martin Murray will never impress overwhelmingly, but he’ll be good enough to win against 160-pounders of most kinds, which is what he did against Max Bursak by unanimous decision.
Murray made his name in a disputed loss against then-champion Sergio Martinez and a disputed draw against Felix Sturm. He hasn’t always looked great against lesser competition. Bursak wasn’t stellar, and didn’t really even come close to winning — the scorecards of 119-109 were better than the one that read 117-112 (keeping in mind that my stream abandoned me for a couple early rounds, although no one seemed to take seriously the notion that Bursak won more than a handful of rounds).
The fight was a bit ugly, with a lot of grappling. Murray was just more varied in his attack than the basic Bursak, and more prolific. He took over the second half of the fight more convincingly than he did the early rounds. The British commentators found this “workmanlike,” which is fair. And he beat a guy who was on the cusp of a top-10 ranking.
Murray is aiming at Sam Soliman now, with Soliman coming off a win over Sturm. That Soliman beats this Murray. But it’s a fight that probably makes sense for both men.
