Former British and European Champion Jon Thaxton believes the pressure is all on John Murray ahead of his British Lightweight title clash with Scott Lawton in Wigan this weekend. Murray makes the second defence of his title against reigning English Champ Lawton on Hennessy Sports “Rule Britannia” event at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan this Saturday (June 13th) with the winner set to defend against Thaxton in the autumn..
The Norwich man will be ringside in Wigan to provide expert analysis for ITV4 who are broadcasting Saturday’s event live. Having stopped Lawton in seven rounds during his own British title reign Thaxton is tipping Murray to retain his title but he believes it could be a difficult night for the unbeaten Mancunian.
“I think Murray is going to win but in a sense it’s a “no win” fight for John Murray,” said Thaxton. “If he stops Lawton then people will say so what, ‘Jon Thaxton and Amir Khan did the same thing a few years back’ and if he doesn’t stop him then that won’t look good for him either so there is a lot of pressure on Murray to not only stop Lawton but to look really good doing it and make people sit up and take notice
“I think Murray will apply a lot of pressure, work Lawton’s body and wear him down for a late round stoppage but if Lawton can make a good start, get his confidence up and start to believe that he belongs at this level then it could become very interesting.”
Lawton has successfully rebuilt following those back to back title defeats to Thaxton and Khan in 2007 and is on an impressive run of form which has seen him lift the English title courtesy of an impressive win over Martin Gethin. While Thaxton is predicting a Murray victory he’s not ruling out the possibility of Lawton of upsetting the applecart.
“Lawton’s a very capable guy and when he sticks to his boxing he’s the kind of boxer that can give you all kinds of problems. A lot of it will depend on just how hungry he is for the British title. If he’s truly up for the fight then I think he could be in with a shout but when you’ve already fallen short at British level the danger is that it becomes a mental block and you can never get past that obstacle.”
Regardless of who wins Saturday night’s clash Thaxton is desperate to get his hands on the winner as another victory in a British title fight would see him win a Lonsdale belt outright.
“Ever since I turned pro as an 18 year old it’s been an ambition of mine to win a Lonsdale belt outright and I’m just one win away from that. To win that belt for keeps would be a hell of an achievement and it’s something I would treasure. I don’t mind who wins, if it’s Murray then I’m very confident that I could hand him his first defeat and I’ve already beaten Lawton so I’d have no problem with that fight either.”
The John Murray – Scott Lawton British Lightweight title fight headlines a big night of boxing at the Robin Park Arena, Wigan on Saturday, June 13th. Unbeaten Heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury will have his seventh professional outing while in a battle of Champions, Central Area title holder Nadeem Siddique takes on Southern Area Champ, Tom Glover.
Hot prospects Steve “Super Bad” Barnes and Phill Fury also feature alongside the pro debut of Bobby “Boogaloo” Ward, the last Englishman to defeat Amir Khan. Exciting puncher Andrew Singh Kooner completes the line-up.
Tickets are available from the Ticketline box office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.
BOOTH BIDS TO ROCK DEAN
JASON BOOTH makes the first defence of his British super-bantamweight championship when he faces all-action brawler Rocky Dean at York Hall, Bethnal Green on Tuesday June 30.
The action packed card also features a fierce British featherweight title eliminator between Harrow’s Sikh slugger Akaash Bhatia (14-0) and Welshman Jamie Arthur (14-2).
A special attraction on the FTM bill sees Ireland’s Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland (3-0) make his London debut in a six round super-middleweight bout.
Booth, 31, (32-5) has had terrible personal problems in the past, but an amazing run of form has seen his career soar.
If Jason overcomes his latest challenge he will be on the brink of a showdown against his friend, European champion Rendall Munroe.
Booth won his first British title almost ten years who when he was crowned flyweight champion and honours galore have followed him.
He has also held Commonwealth flyweight, IBO super-flyweight titels and still holds the Commonwealth bantamweight crown.
Nottingham’s favourite fighting son stepped in as a last minute sub to challenge Liverpool’s Mark Moran for the British 8st 10lb title in April and gave a arguably the best performance in his career, with a sixth round stoppage.
Promoter Frank Maloney: “Jason will fight anybody and is absolutely fearless of any opponent.
“If you ring him for a job the reply is ‘where, when, how much, see you there.’
“David Haye pulled out of a world heavyweight title with a bad back last week and asked for three weeks rest. Jason takes fights at three weeks’ notice with a bad back!
“I would love to get him a major world title fight and a clash with Rendall is possible although I don’t know how they feel as they’re pretty close.”
Thetford’s Dean, 30, (14-10) is better than his record suggests and the former Southern Area featherweight champion is never in a bad fight.
This will be his second crack at this belt, losing a majority verdict to Mark Moran last November and is determined to get it right.
Tickets for ‘Back from the Brink’ are available at £80 (ringside) and £30 from www.frankmaloney.com and 0871 226 1508.
MALONEY AND MUNROE AWARDS TRIUMPH
FRANK MALONEY and Rendall Munroe were a knockout at the EBU convention in Sardinia this weekend picking up prestigious awards for their services to boxing.
Maloney shared the ‘European Promoter of the Year’ award with Germany’s Wilfred Sauerland.
Leicester southpaw Munroe was named as ‘European Boxer of the Year’ following his amazing reign as EBU super-bantamweight champion.
Maloney said: “It was nice to get my award, but I was even more delighted for Rendall because he is old school fighter.
“Success hasn’t changed him one bit and however much money he makes I think he’ll never give up work as a dustman.
“The shame was that Rendall had no idea about the award so he missed the ceremony. When I got there the EBU asked where he was, but nobody had told me that he’d won.”
Munroe, 29, won the European title in March 2008 when he caused a major upset outpointing Spaniard Kiko Martinez.
The punching binman has made three impressive defence of his EBU title including comprehensive points win against Martinez in a return.
In May Munroe (19-1) captured the Commonwealth title with a unanimous points win against African Issac Nettey.
Munroe’s next fight is likely to be in July or September, in either a European title defence or world title eliminator against Italian Simone Maludrottu.
For further FTM information log on to www.frankmaloney.com