John Murray vs Lee Meager British Lightweight Championship Official Onsite Tee Shirt, signed by future World Title Contenders John Murray & Carl "The Cobra" Froch (silver sharpie) billed "Strictly Business", 11th July 2008, Robin Park Arena, Wigan.

Size XXL (image shows reverse side)
Front depicts JAB Wear logo and Hennessey Sports with the sleeves advertising Golden Palace.net

Murray W TKO 5

Undefeated lightweight John Murray (25-0, 13 KOs) gave former BBBofC British lightweight champion Lee Meager (21-3, 8 KOs) a boxing lesson en route to totally obliterating him in a 5th round stoppage to win the vacant BBBofC British lightweight title tonight at the Robin Park Centre, Wigan, in Lancashire. After badly beating Meager for four one-sided rounds, Murray, 23, staggered Meager with three consecutive left hooks in the 5th round, two of which snapped Meager’s head back violently, causing for referee Howard John Foster to step in and waive off the fight at 2:20 of the 5th round.
The difference in talent was immediately clear in the first round, as Murray came out on fire, attacking the slower, less offensively talented Meager with relish. Murry spent the better part of the round hammering left and right hooks to the head and body. Near the end of the round, Murray began adding in right uppercuts that straightened up Meager who had been previously attempting to crowd Murray on the inside hoping to land some shots. Meager fired back with some good shots of his own in the round fighting gamely, but still showing that he didn’t have the armament to match to more active, more powerful Murray.
Murray came out fast in the 2nd round, firing a storm of left hooks to the head of Meager and not letting him get any punches in himself. After knocking his gum shield out, Murray slowed down a little, giving Meager a chance to finally land a few punches of his own. It didn’t last long, however, before Murray was once again throwing sustained flurries and backing Meager up around the ring. Like in the previous round, Murray really punished Meager in the last 30 seconds of the round with countless shots to the head.
In rounds three through five, Murray thrashed a beaten and worn-out looking Meager all around the ring, making him look much older than his 30 years. In the 3rd round, Meager tried to reverse the course of the fight, taking the action to Murray. However, Murray proved to be an excellent fighter backing up and was able to catch Meager frequently with shots to the head while in reverse gear. By the end of the round, Meager had cuts over both of his eyes, swelling on his right cheek and purple swelling under his right eye.
Murray fought somewhat slower in the 4th round, but no less as successful as he continued to punish Meager with left hooks to the head. At one point in the round, Murray turned southpaw and pounded him from the side as easily as he was from the orthodox side. Meager was getting close in this round, but not letting his hands go like he had earlier. In the 5th round Meager fought incredibly hard, coming forward constantly and throwing lots of punches.
Murray, though, landed the harder shots during this time, and began to tag Meager while he was loading up with his own punches. Finally, Murray tagged Meager with three consecutive left hooks, each of them snapping Meager’s head, staggering him in the process. The referee ignored the first two big left hooks from Murray, but after the third shot landed, the referee stepped in between the two fighters and stopped the fight at 2:20 of the 5th round.
Murray fought much better this time out than in his last fight in May, a bout in which he won a controversial decision over Youssef Al Hamidi. In the minds of many boxing fans, Murray lost the fight to Hamidi and was given a gift decision. Indeed, he appeared to lose the fight to the much busier Hamidi, who looked like he had won the fight by a minimum of two rounds at least.
The important thing for Murray, however, is that he appeared to improve immensely since that fight, and was much busier than he had been against the light-hitting Hamidi. That said, Murray’s job was mad much easier this time out due to fact that Meager looked completely shot in comparison to Murray, and was never even remotely competitive in the fight for a second.

Price: £45

John Murray Wins to Become British Lightweight Champion

The Manchester lightweight has been marked out as one of the most promising young boxers in Britain and was rewarded by defeating Lee Meager for the British lightweight championship 11th July 2008, Robin Park Arena, Wigan.

Murray, former WBC Youth Title Holder, was nominated the 2006 Boxing Writers Young Boxer of the Year. Manchester City fan Murray believes the experience of boxing twice in Las Vegas in the last year has made him a better boxer. Murray boxed on the undercard of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather in 2007, and then the night before Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather in December 2007.





Carl Froch (born 2 July 1977, Nottingham) Is a tall, rangy fighter who adopts a very low guard. He currently holds the British and Commonwealth title at Super-Middleweight having previously held the English title.

Froch began boxing at home at 9 years old. He later joined the Phoenix ABC in Gedling, near Nottingham. As an amateur he won two ABA middleweight titles in 1999 and 2001 and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships before turning pro and having his first pro fight in March 2002. During his amateur career, he lost a fight to Dennis Inkin, who he was scheduled to fight in a title eliminator in 2008, but Inkin pulled out on two occasions.

6'1" Froch, nicknamed "the Cobra," is unbeaten in 23 professional fights, with 19 knockouts. He turned professional late on at the age of 25. He stated on ITV that despite his age he is a fresh 30 year old and that he can go on for many more years to come and that he has not hit his peak yet, after presenter Jim Rosenthal asked if he was a little old to be challenging for a world title.

Froch, who is trained by Robert McCracken and managed by Mick Hennessy, is the reigning British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion. Having been rated the number 1 challenger at super-middleweight by the WBC previously and then demoted to second, he has recently regained his position as number 1 challenger.
In 2004, Froch won the vacant British Championship. He has defended it against Brian Magee, Damon Hague and a number of other contenders, earning him a Lonsdale Belt outright in the process and fulfilling an ambition he had long been after. On the 9 November 2007, at the Nottingham arena he stopped veteran ex-world champion Robin Reid, after which Reid retired.

He is a keen supporter of Nottingham Forest and has a home season ticket, making him a popular figure amongst Forest fans. He occasionally trains at Forest's training ground when a fight is upcoming. He has also appeared on the popular Sky Sports Saturday Morning Football show Soccer AM the week before a fight. He has been a special guest at the City Ground on a number of occasions and received a warm welcome from the Forest faithful. On May 10, 2008, at the Trent Fm Arena in Nottingham Carl Froch stopped unbeaten Polish Albert Rybacki in the 4th round of a scheduled 12. Rybacki was drafted in as a last minute replacement after initial opponent Dennis Inkin pulled out on two occasions, top 5 ranked Alejandro Berrio pulled out and American Rubin Williams opted out for "personal reasons". After no one in the top ten wanted the fight, unbeaten Rybacki was the only opponent willing to fight. He is the mandatory challenger for Joe Calzaghe's World Boxing Council super middleweight title.