Murray is no "good boy"...

He is a complete bad-ass.

Golovkin at times was doing straight-up heavy bag work on Murray's face, practicing combinations of more than half a dozen flush power shots, thrown crisply and with textbook form. Golovkin at one point in the later going stepped through with lead uppercuts, breaking Murray's guard and cracking him bang on the middle of the chin - and Murray stood there and took it, and responded with a triple jab.

It should have been all over with the knockdown at the end of the brutal 10th. Luis Pabon wanted to stop it. Murray's corner were screaming as loud as they could at him to stay down. He gave no ****s whatsoever.

Then, in the anxious wait for the eleventh, Oliver Harrison says in a shaky, emotional voice "I'm dying to stop this, mate, help me out, show me something here..." and Pabon sticks his nose in to peer at Murray only to be snarled at to not stop it by a stone-faced (or rather, adobe-faced, considering the coloration) Murray who kept Harrison in check with a quiet but commanding refrain of "I'm okay. I'm okay. :twisted:"

I fully agree with Kellerman's prophesying early in the eleventh, shortly before Pabon decided he couldn't stomach any more, that such a performance is sure to "raise Murray's stock but also perhaps ruin him as a top fighter". I'm almost certain of it. Murray has set a benchmark that I can't envision any other middleweight besting, or even matching (lasting until the championship rounds with a prime Golovkin) - but he could well be so decimated by the experience as to be susceptible going forward to losing to once-inferior types, like a Lemieux. Hell, I wouldn't confidently pick him in a Murray vs. Khomitsky III right now.

...but even if that was indeed his career's peak, it was a damn respectable one. Murray is a warrior. :good

 

What stinks is that if Murray goes on to lose a few or look bad, which you almost have to kind of expect after that beating, it will be twisted by the naysayer rhetoricians into "see, he sucks, Golovkin took eleven to get rid of a bum :bart" rather than "OMG, GGG completely ruined the arguable 2nd best in his division! :yikes"

 

Difference being that unlike any of those particular three names you mentioned, he actually was a top level fighter heading in. Rosado was a fringe guy at junior middle, and is a solid acid test for prospects at middleweight, but not a "top fighter". Stevens was exposed years ago, experiencing a brief unexpected resurgence with a decent run of televised KO victories before he got his shot, but he was never a top middleweight in truth. Proksa had already seen his own hype train derailed by Hope (as Primera had done to Stevens a decade ago) with only the one misleading W over a clearly shot-to-bits-overnight former titlist in Sylvester. His self-taught athleticism-based style and reflexive defense was tailor made for Golovkin, as well.

Murray had proven his world class mettle already, even though he struggled both times with his nemesis (Khomitsky, who is better than his record), in his controversial tilts with Sturm & Maravilla.

Adama is a level below the above trio, not even close to a top middleweight...but yes, he adapted better than most to Golovkin and fought intelligently on the night.

Geale and Ishida both paid for their aggression, both having the same general idea of taking it to Golovkin to prevent him establishing offensive momentum (not a bad idea on paper, just hard to execute with how damn good he is - and it doesn't help that neither Geale nor Ishida can open an egg with their bare hands)

Correct. Look at Kassim Ouma.

I agree, sadly.

 

:rofl Only Sergio could get away with saying this and not require a "no ho-mo" disclaimer.


...:think only Sergio could get away with doing lots of things and not require a a "no ho-mo" disclaimer.

 

Yeah, it lost him some fans (especially given the expectations and pressure to represent the "Mexican" spirit) but you're probably right.

 

Like Log is better than bad (it's good), Murray is better than a good (boy) - he's bad (-ass).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLFHYOvfdk4