Martin Murray v Roberto Garcia preview

Martin Murray takes on Roberto Garcia in London on Saturday after missing out on another chance to challenge for a world title.

Billy Joe Saunders was his original opponent and Murray had a shot at his WBO middleweight title, only for Saunders to pull out through injury.

It remains to be seen as to whether or not at 35-years-old Murray will get another chance to be a world champion, but he should at least be able to add another win to his record against Garcia.

Murray to win @ 1.14

Murray only loses to the very best fighters, with all four of his defeats coming in world title bouts.  The St Helens boxer is arguably unlucky to have never claimed a major title after narrow reverses to Sergio Martinez and Arthur Abraham, with his other defeats coming at the hands of Gennady Golovkin and George Groves.

Murray was the ‘away’ fighter against both Martinez and Abraham as he took on tasks few other British boxers would.  He will be looking to make a statement against Garcia and he should be able to claim a comfortable win, but he may not be able to stop the Mexican.

Murray to win by decision or technical decision @ 1.40

This clash looks set to go the distance as Murray has only been stopped once – by Golovkin as the referee stepped in – and Garcia has never suffered a KO defeat.

Garcia is a 44 fight veteran and holds the WBC Silver middleweight title, with his record reading 41 wins with 24 KOs, three defeats and no draws.   The 38-year-old is a durable fighter and is likely to go all the way with Murray, who isn’t particularly a knockout specialist, so a points win for the Briton looks to be the most likely outcome in this contest.

Murray did manage to finish off Arman Torosyan in his last outing but only 17 of his 36 victories have been inside the distance and Garcia should be able to last the 12 rounds.