John Murray vs Scott Lawton official on-site programme signed (silver sharpie) by British welterweight & potential World champion Kell Brook (on reverse), 13th June 2009, Robin Park Arena, Wigan.

Murray W TKO 6
Murray came in almost 2oz overweight and was stripped of his British title, meaning that only Lawton could win the title, if Murray was to win, the title would remain vacant. An under pressure Lawton is given a count late in the 1st but it appeared more of a push than a shot.

Price: £25

John Murray (born 20 December 1984, Manchester, England) undefeated lightweight and a former British lightweight champion. He is trained by Joe Gallagher at the Denton Gym in Manchester and is the brother of former British Olympian Joe Murray.

Murray's first professional fight took place in September 2003 with a 4 round points win win over journeyman Peter Buckley. Over the next two years Murray was busy in the ring scoring 15 more wins in 15 fights before in December 2005 defeating Ignacio Mendoza for the WBC World Youth lightweight title. He made one defence of his title against Moebi Sarouna and scored decent wins over Ben Odamattey and Lorenzo Bethea before defeating Dean Hickman at the Ice Arena in Nottingham for the English title. In October 2006 he was awarded the prestigious young boxer of the year award at a ceremony held in London, an award previously held by the likes of Ricky Hatton, Frank Bruno and Barry McGuigan.

British Champion
Following the Hickman victory, Murray fought twice more against journeyman opponents before meeting Salford boxer Lee Meager for the vacant British lightweight title in July 2008. He won the belt after the referee stopped the fight in the 5th round. Following the fight Meager, a promotional stablemate, announced his retirement. The first defence of his title was made on 17 January 2009 at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan. Murray managed to keep hold of the belt after scoring an 8th round stoppage over Aberdeen's Lee McAllister.

Murray's second defence of the title on 13 June 2009 against Stoke fighter Scott Lawton ended before it had even begun when Murray weighed in for the contest 2oz overweight. Despite efforts to get down to the lightweight limit, Murray was unable to shift the weight and was stripped of the belt. The contest with Lawton still went ahead and resulted in a sixth round stoppage for Murray ensuring that he was still undefeated but no longer a champion.






Kell Brook is on course for a Lonsdale belt outright - in record time. The Sheffield youngster has already stopped Barrie Jones, Kevin McIntyre and Stuart Elwell in British title fights. And he'll be looking for another KO on May 22.
Brook was supposed to meet Scottish rival McIntyre in London in June, but after he twice pulled out of the fight with a bad back, Kell was fast-tracked to a crack at the vacant title.

Fellow prospect Barrie Jones was in the opposite corner in the East End, but was given a boxing lesson by a man compared to a young Naseem Hamed. Eventually, after seven one-sided rounds, the referee decided he’d seen enough, and Brook had picked up the coveted Lonsdale belt.

It was a sweet moment for the 22-year-old, who had seen his early career blighted by pull-outs. He was supposed to fight Mark Thompson in a British welterweight title eliminator in December, only for the northerner to pull out on short notice. Tony Doherty and Gary Young also withdrew after signing terms – Doherty after injuring his thumb when he got his hand stuck in a video recorder!

And Brook was also nominated to fight for John O'Donnell's English welterweight title only for him to vacate.
But now he’s got a title, Brook will be far less avoided – especially as he has ambitions to make it to the very top.
A couple of years ago, Brook had some problems with his weight and was out of the gym for a long time with injury, but says he is now approaching his best. The Ingle camp, where Brook now trains, are backing their man to follow in the footsteps of fellow Yorkshireman Hamed and become a multiple world champion. Brook has been likened to Naz style wise, and perhaps that’s no surprise as he began boxing aged nine with Brendan Ingle in Sheffield.

"Naz was an inspiration when I was a kid, he was the man back then," said Brook, "I remember seeing him on the pads and I was mesmerised," added Brook. "Everyone in the gym wanted to be like him and I copied his style.
"Going back to the Ingles has been like going home, to be honest. It feels like I've never been away - the sparring I've had in the last six weeks has been absolutely amazing.
"It's brought back a few memories of when I was youngster and Naz was in the gym.

"He was such a great talent. Hopefully I fight like him - and if I achieve just a fraction of what he did then I'll be a very happy man." And he also says he is looking to restore some pride to the city after world title defeats for Clinton Woods and Junior Witter.