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Longtime middleweight contender Martin Murray will look to get back on track on July 12 in Liverpool, and now he knows his opponent. The 36-year-old Murray will face Denmark’s Kim Poulsen in a fight that will stream on ESPN+ in the US.
Murray (37-5-1, 17 KO) has challenged for world titles on four occasions, going 0-3-1. In three of those fights, he had an argument for the win — his 2011 draw with Felix Sturm in Germany, his 2013 loss to Sergio Martinez in Argentina, and his 2015 loss to Arthur Abraham in Germany. Only Gennadiy Golovkin, also in 2015, really beat Murray conclusively in a world title fight.
But Murray’s also gotten older since then, and has dropped clear decisions to George Groves in 2016 and Hassan N’Dam this past December, even though the latter came back a majority decision. It seemed as though Murray would retire after the loss to N’Dam, but he’s going to give it another go.
Poulsen (28-5, 7 KO) is 32 and has been in the pro game since 2006. He had a pretty quiet career for a long time, then faced Anthony Yigit in 2015. Yigit stopped him in since, then Kerman Lejarraga stopped him in two 10 months later. Poulsen was also stopped in two by Gaku Takahashi in 2016, then after a year-and-a-half out of the ring, he jumped from welterweight to super middleweight in 2018. He last fought on Dec. 14 in Australia, dropping a wide decision to Jayde Mitchell.
“I believe I’m on a different level to him but for a comeback fight, it’s not going to be any kind of walkover. He’s coming to win,” Murray said. “With my skills as a boxer plus my superior physical attributes, I still plan on getting him out of there and look good doing it.
“This is a massive night of boxing in Liverpool. I didn’t dream of coming back on something like this. It’s an absolutely stacked bill with some world-class Scousers on it as well as one of Manchester’s finest in Terry Flanagan.
“The Olympia is such a great venue. I’ve fought there before but this card could easily have been filling the Echo Arena. The Scouse fight fans are the best in the world and I can’t wait to put on a good show for them.”
The July 12 Liverpool card will also feature returns for Rocky Fielding and Natasha Jonas, as well as Jazza Dickens vs Nathaniel May and Terry Flanagan.