Undefeated John Murray will battle Kevin Mitchell on July 9, looking to get in line for a WBO lightweight title shot. Here's the press conference:
Murray (31-0, 18 KO) gave up his European title for this fight, while Mitchell (31-1, 23 KO) hasn't fought since May 2010, when he was physically dominated by Michael Katsidis in the first loss of his pro career. I always thought Mitchell was a quality fighter, but he looked extremely small next to Katsidis and was just totally overpowered by him. Murray isn't Katsidis physically, but he has plenty of quality domestic-level sort of wins over the likes of Lee Meager, Lee McAllister, Scott Lawton, Jon Thaxton, and Gary Buckland, and given Mitchell's layoff and the fact that he dropped his last fight so spectacularly, Murray has to be considered a pretty solid favorite in this fight.
July 9 is going to be one busy day with Murray vs Mitchell, Brandon Rios vs Urbano Antillon, Paul Williams vs Erislandy Lara, etc.