Boxing news: Jackson Murray eyes revenge against Justis Huni to rule Australian heavyweight division
As he prepares to be part of the Tim Tszyu-Takeshi Inoue undercard, Jackson Murray is vowing to render a string of opponents unconscious until he gets to his ultimate goal.
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He is the two-metre giant hot on the heels of Justis Huni and vowing to render a string of opponents unconscious until he gets his showdown.
Sutherland fighter Jackson Murray will have his second professional fight on the Tim Tszyu versus Takeshi Inoue undercard on November 17 but a long-running rivalry with Huni ensures he’ll have the Australian heavyweight champion in the back of his mind.
A fight against Huni won’t come anytime soon, but 26-year-old Murray is willing to bide his time for revenge after Huni was selected to go to the 2019 World Championships, where he claimed a bronze medal, despite Murray being national champion at the time.
“(Boxing Australia) just wanted Justis to go, they were going to let us fight for the qualifier because Justis has always been the one, but he was injured. That’s why he didn’t fight at the nationals,” Murray said.
“So we scheduled a fight, then he had an injury, scheduled another date and he had an injury again.
“And then we scheduled that third date and I broke my foot training.
“As soon as I did that, my foot was broken, they were like ‘Oh well, Justis is going’. They didn’t reschedule the date.
“So Justis ended up going on to the world championships, he did really well there. But it was a bit annoying.
“I’ve always been on the heels.
“It’s tough, he’s got some good momentum going.
“I’m trying to get past him, but when the time is right, the time is right.”
For now, Murray understands he needs to make a statement to the Australian public.
In his professional debut in April, Murray knocked out Webster Teaupa on the undercard of Paul Gallen’s sensational victory over Lucas Browne.
Murray has since become one of Gallen’s chief sparring partners and plans to unleash his fearsome power on rivals, starting with his next opponent, Shant Nercessian, at Qudos Bank Arena.
“I don’t want to be winning on points, it’s the heavyweight division,” Murray said
“People like the heavyweight division, it’s the biggest draw because you’ve got the highest percentage of seeing someone get knocked out. That’s what everyone wants.
“So I don’t have any interest in winning on points. I’m going to be looking for a knockout. And I feel I have that power. If you watch my last fight, the only two hands that landed in the fight that were clean dropped him both times.
“I’m not even interesting in TKOs where the ref has to wave it off when I’m belting them on the ropes. I want to drop them, land a mad, clean shot and drop them.”
Under new trainer Fidel Tukel, and marked as a future star by promoters No Limit, Murray is confident of making waves as one of the biggest heavyweights in the land, at 201cm and with an enormous 213cm reach that is comparable with the division’s lineal champion Tyson Fury.
But Murray only took up boxing four years ago after a freak injury derailed his rugby league dreams.
“I was signed with Burwood, but I was training with North Sydney Bears,” he said. “I had my foot crushed at work, I broke all the bones in my foot.
“I was a first-year apprentice, I was carrying a door up an escalator at Circular Quay Station.
“The ceiling went up to the second storey, but halfway up the escalator, there was a concrete bulkhead that ran across just a beam, and the door was bigger than the gap between the steps and the beam.
“So the top of the door caught the beam and the step underneath my foot started pushing my foot up into the door. It just jammed, and then I was trying to shake the door but there was so much pressure going through into my foot I could just feel the bones crunch.
“The step of the escalator actually broke and pushed through into the machine and the bolts snapped, the machine cut off and then the door dropped.
“After that I just I couldn’t wear footy boots. It was just too much – tons of pain – so I had to give it away.”
Murray, who has a 20-month-old girl, Scarlette, with partner Maddie, turned to boxing as a new outlet.
He quickly developed into one of the country’s best amateurs, winning the state title in 2017 and national championship the nest year.
He hopes that professionals will be allowed to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next year – a decision is still pending – with the plan to be Australia’s heavyweight contender after Huni initially announced he wanted to go before backflipping to focus on his full-time pro career.
Aussie fighter’s surreal experience with boxing royalty
Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis have emerged as superstar x-factors in the relentless surge toward a world title for unbeaten Sydney lightweight, Brock Jarvis.
The Saturday Telegraph can reveal Tyson, arguably the greatest heavyweight of all-time, invited Jarvis and his trainer, Australian Hall of famer Jeff Fenech, to his home at Newport Beach in Los Angeles for a master class in boxing.
Tyson even invited Jarvis to be on the undercard of his next fight early in 2022.
And then, unbelievably, Lewis, the former British heavyweight champion, rang Fenech and Jarvis for a chat as they left Tyson’s mansion.
Watching YouTube, Tyson critiqued Jarvis’ tough five-round win over Mexican Alejandro Frias in Fresno, California, a fortnight ago in his US boxing debut.
Another of Fenech’s rising boxers, Hassan Hamdan, was also there, along with Fenech’s daughter, Kaylaa.
Jarvis, 20-0, will return from his US fight on December 6 for a brief rest before planning another fight early next year, possibly back in America.
And with every fight, Jarvis will remember the words of advice and encouragement from Tyson, who finished his remarkable career with 50 wins from 58 fights, 44 by KO. Lewis, 41 wins from 44 fights, was also highly complimentary of Jarvis.
Jarvis was roughed up by Frias in round two before emerging with a strong victory in round five to retain his unbeaten record.
“It was unbelievable — I’m sitting there thinking: ‘I’m with Mike Tyson and we’re watching my fight’. I couldn’t believe it,” Jarvis said.
“I was starstruck. I never thought something like that could happen. We spoke about using my jab a bit more and moving my head a bit more.
“Mike Tyson is one of the greatest boxers ever. It just gave me so much confidence to be there with him listening to his advice.
“It was pretty exciting to think he was sitting there giving me some help.”
Fenech said the wisdom of Tyson and Lewis was invaluable to Jarvis.
“Mike invited us to his home,” Fenech said. “He put YouTube on and we watched Brock’s fight. He sat Brock down and talked to him about a lot of things.
“It was really, really good for Brock. Mike watched it and went through it all with us. He said: ‘What a performance’.
“Mike said he would love Jeff to be on his next undercard. Mike also told ‘Hass’ (Hamdan) that too. If Mike speaks to Eddie Hearn (leading US promoter), you never know what could happen.
“And then Lennox Lewis rang on the way back home. Lennox watched the Frias fight and gave Brock plenty of praise. Lennox said the fight was a great lesson for Brock. He was really impressed.
“It was an experience for Brock – you learn from that. We will have a nice rest now but we then have a lot of work to do.”
Fenech is a friend of Lewis and once trained Tyson. Most agree Jarvis, 23, is heading toward a world title, aided by a strong team of supporters and backers in Sydney, including high-profile businessmen Mark Bouris, Barney Allam and Lou Zivanovic.
AUSSIE BOXER’S EPL GOALIE LINK REVEALED
A machine used by heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, lightweight sensation Vasiliy Lomachenko and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is now part of the training routine of Billy Dib as he embarks on a final boxing comeback.
The 36-year-old two-time world champion is seeking to improve his speed and reaction time courtesy of the Sports Vision Trainer (SVT), designed by Sydney optometrist Dr Pierre Elmurr.
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Dib saw the machine being used by Olympic gold medallist and former lightweight champion Lomachenko on social media, and as he prepares to face undefeated Queensland fighter Jacob Ng next March he is confident with his progress so far.
“They gave us the same program used by Vasiliy and Usky, they sent us the times, it’s 0.23 of a second, that’s how long you have to hit the light,” Dib said.
“Obviously I didn’t start off that fast, but that’s where I’m at now. I’m basically at Vasiliy Lomachenko’s level now in regards to speed.
“And the goal is to always hit over 80 per cent otherwise you fail. I’m hitting well over 80 per cent, I’m hitting in the 90s.
“They obviously get something out of it in terms of hand-eye coordination, so I’m just trying to follow suit.
“As you get older your speed diminishes a little bit and I try to make sure my speed stays on point, because one thing that has benefited me throughout my career is having fast hands.
“Going into the Jacob Ng fight I want to make sure my hand-eye is sharp.”
Dib retired in 2018 after losing an IBF super-featherweight title fight against American Tevin Farmer, but came back the following year to take on British superstar Amir Khan.
Following that loss, Dib (47-6, 27KO) has racked up two successive wins and hopes to defeat Ng (15-0, 11KO) to become a world title contender at lightweight.
Elmurr came up with the machine 21 years ago and it is now used by overseas boxing champions, Chelsea Football Club, Boston Red Sox and Red Bull.
“It was around the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when I was doing research for the NSW Institute of Sport, we used it successfully with some of the water polo goalkeepers and then they actually won gold,” Elmurr said.
“From there on the product got commercialised.
“In 2016 (Ukraine Olympic boxing’s) sports psychologist was looking for innovative technology to train reaction time and hand-eye coordination. He came across my technology, I spent some time with them in Kiev showing them how it works, and [Lomachenko and Usyk] started implementing it in their training camps.
“All of us, once we reach the age of 30 plus, our central nervous system slows down very slightly.
“For the average person those changes don’t matter because we’re not performing at a high level, we’re not racing Formula One, we’re not playing State of Origin, so it doesn’t affect us.
“But for an athlete it’s significant — even a 20 millisecond improvement could be the difference between reaction and not getting knocked out, or landing the punch they need to punch because you’re working at a higher level.
“For Billy, with his age and making this fantastic comeback, he just has to work a bit harder than these young 25-year-olds. My aim is to make his central nervous system be like a 25-year-old.”
Usyk recently dethroned Anthony Joshua to become the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion, Lomachenko is considered among the sport’s pound-for-pound elite, and Mendy is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.
How Tokyo hero won over a legend in just five minutes
Everyone’s just wild about Harry.
Including Aussie boxing legend Johnny Lewis.
The same master trainer who took Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding and Kostya Tszyu to world titles reckons he can do the same with Harry Garside.
Impressed by what he’s seen up close, Lewis agreed to take over training the talented Victorian contender as he transitions from the amateur to the professional ranks.
His first paid bout will be on the undercard for Tim Tszyu‘s next fight against Japan’s Takeshi Inoue, on November 17 at Qudos Bank Arena in Homebush.
And while his opponent still hasn’t been decided, Lewis is confident he’ll take the step up.
“Whoever they put in front of him early, it‘s a challenge.” Lewis said.
“It‘s a bit like touch football and football, but I think this kid wants to play football, not touch football.
“He‘s made for it. He’s got great height, he’s got a beautiful reach and a lot of people think he doesn’t punch hard so that’s a great asset for us to go in the ring with.”
Garside won the admiration of every fight fan in Australia when he captured a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics despite fighting with a broken hand.
Lewis has always stayed involved in prize fighting and has never shut the door on making a comeback to training.
His interest was tweaked when he was told by Peter Mitrevski, who handles heavyweight ex-NRL star Paul Gallen, that Garside was a rare talent but the 77-year-old wanted to see for himself.
“I always said if the right person was there then I‘d go for it,” Lewis said.
“Within five minutes I knew there was something special about him.”
That feeling seems mutual because Harry seems wild about Johnny, too.
Now recovered from the surgery to fix his busted hand, Garside has already been hitting the bags under the watchful eye of Lewis.
The 24-year-old lightweight said they had only been working out together for a couple of weekends but already he had learnt a stack of things he has to adjust if he wants to make it in the professional game.
“Every young person wants to go to the Olympics and I finally got to do that and represent our country and I‘m just grateful now, it’s the next chapter,” Garside said.
“Obviously the amateur style is a bit different to the pros so it‘s great to have someone like Johnny, who’s an absolute veteran of the sport and a wizard when it comes to professional boxing.
“I‘m just picking up things and it’s so exciting. It’s just a new chapter.
“I‘ve got to slow things down a little bit. Obviously, amateur boxing is very fast paced but I have to back myself and believe that I have the power because in amateurs, you‘re not looking for power.
“So it’s just changing a few things. It’s a great journey. It’s only been a few weeks but I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
Boxing legend to lead Australia’s brightest hope
Phil Rothfield
Aussie boxing legend Johnny Lewis is coming out of retirement at 77 years of age to train Olympic hero Harry Garside, who is about to turn professional.
Australia’s greatest trainer took Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding and Kostya Tszyu to world titles in a remarkable training career that began 60 years ago and earnt him global recognition in the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
Lewis will be revealed as Garside’s trainer at a press conference on Thursday morning.
Garside bravely won a bronze medal for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, later revealing he secretly fought with a broken bone in his hand that required surgery on his return home.
The 24-year-old will be managed by former Australian champion Peter Mitrevski, who is also the advisor for former NRL star and heavyweight boxer Paul Gallen.
He will have his first fight under Australia’s leading boxing promoter Matt Rose before Christmas.
Lewis has stayed closely involved in the fight game over the last decade.
He even cornered for trainer Graham Shaw in a Daniel Lewis fight in the US last year.
He has worked as a personal trainer and senior advisor to elite sporting teams in recent years.
“Johnny’s forgotten more than most trainers will ever know,” said one boxing insider.
“This is a huge coup for Harry as he turns professional and learns that it’s a different game to amateur fighting.”
Lewis began training boxers as a 17-year-old and took over the Newtown PCYC as head trainer way back in 1961.
Age certainly won’t hold Lewis back.
He has seen what a slightly younger Wayne Bennett has done with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL and is hoping to take Garside all the way to a world title fight.
Lewis will be assisted by trainer Jayson Laing, who travelled to the world championships in Germany with Garside.
The 24-year-old Garside told The Sunday Telegraph in August he was considering a professional career.
“Financially, it’s tough as an amateur,” Garside said.
“You rely on your passion and love for the sport.
“I’ve got to think about putting food on the table. I’m 24 but I’ve got to start thinking about what my life’s going to be like at 54.”
An announcement on Gallen’s next fight will also be made at the Bondi Beach press conference.
It has been speculated the 2016 Cronulla Sharks premiership winning skipper will step into the ring against Manly Sea Eagles front-rower John Aloiai, a former amateur fighter next month.
Anthem drama erupts amid boxing farce
Middleweight king Janibek Alimkhanuly’s title defence against Andrei Mikhailovich in Sydney has been rocked by farcical scenes.
‘Punishment for what he did’: Janibek makes brave Kiwi pay
Friday night’s world title fight descended into a farce before the bell rung, but despite the wrong national anthem being played for middleweight world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, the Kazakh king took care of business.