Andy Murray interview about Boxing

I still hate him...more then any sportsmen alive.

 

I respect any person who dedicates themselves to a sport... especially one as unpopular as tennis! He might have the charisma of a lampost but no one can doubt the dramatic improvement he's made over last couple of years. He is the only person in the UK competing at Wimbledon, which shows the intense pressure the guy is under, even Henman had Rusedski as a back up. In truth the majority of people hate him because he's not English

 

there was another interview with him about boxing in which he went into much greater depth and was talking about his favorite fights. He also stated that Secondsout.com was his favorite website.

 

John Mcenroe is also a big boxing fan - every match he does commentary to he references something from boxing.

 

Because he's Scottish and he had a pop at the English football team?

You don't need to even reply, figures.

 

Celebrity Boxing Fan: Tennis player Andy Murray
Published by on June 23rd, 2008

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By Scoop Malinowski

ACCORDING to Britain’s top tennis star Andy Murray, Muhammad Ali is probably the greatest sportsman ever. The #10 seed at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday June 23, says boxing is his favorite sport. Read on for the inside scoop on Andy Murray’s love for prizefighting…

Tennis great Jimmy Connors was a huge Ali supporter and would “drive all over” to watch The Greatest’s closed-circuit TV title fights in the 1960s and 1970s.

Boris Becker and Roger Federer are personal friends of Wladimir Klitschko, as was Guillermo Vilas of his countryman, the late Carlos Monzon of Argentina. Andre Agassi’s dad was an Olympic boxer for Iran. So what is Murray’s connection to boxing?

“It’s my favourite sport outside of tennis,” says the 20-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, who counts Alex Arthur and Amir Khan as friends.

“I don’t really know why I became a fan. I started watching when I was 14 and since then I watched all boxing that’s on TV.

“It’s all I really look at on the internet, and all the fights that are coming up.”

Murray has attended five boxing events in Scotland and also entered the ring with Khan at his third pro fight. Last October, during the Bangkok tournament in Thailand, Andy even spent the day training in Muay Thai.

The two-time ATP tournament winner who has career wins over Federer, Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas, explains the appeal of boxing.

“I quite like the big fights in Vegas. They get, obviously, great crowds. Coming to the ring to the music, there’s a lot of psychology involved. I guess it’s kind of similar to tennis, for each opponent that you face, you can decide whether to defend or attack. If they are more open to right hands, you can throw left hooks. Similar to tennis, where if the guy has a weaker forehand, you’re going to play to that more. There’s a lot of comparisons between the two sports, so I think that’s why I like it.”

Andy’s older brother Jamie, who won the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship this year with Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, added, “It [Andy’s boxing interest] was kind of random. Anything that’s on TV, he [Andy] will sit down and watch it.

“I don’t really understand any of it other than you try to knock the guy down but he’s telling me all the guys’ best punches or what he’s looking to do and all the strategy.”

Before important matches, Murray will draw additional motivation by watching boxing videos, though not necessarily actual fights. “I prefer listening to guys like Ali. That’s inspiring. It’s more the things that they went through, the way that they were. That’s what I really enjoy watching before I play or nights before my matches.

“I loved watching Roy?Jones. I watched his last fight against Anthony Hanshaw – he was fighting pretty defensively, much slower than he used to. But when he was at his best he was unbelievable. Now I love watching Floyd Mayweather, even though a lot of people don’t like him. They think he’s boring, and fights too defensively. But the object of boxing is to hit your opponent and not get hit. And he hits opponents five, six times more than they hit him.

“Mayweather’s not a knockout artist, but he’s the best boxer to watch. He doesn’t really care what people think, he just wants to win regardless of how it looks.

“Very few boxers are able to do that because it can become sort of a macho thing and they want to throw loads of punches. But Mayweather always stays cool under pressure. I also like Ricky Hatton.”

Interestingly, the 6ft 1in Murray’s varied playing style sort of parallels Mayweather’s versatile skills as a welterweight.

“Almost everyone plays the same these days, but Andy can do different things, like slice and then hit for power.” says one of his boyhood coaches Emilio Sanchez. “He can come to net, or retrieve or hit on the run. Other guys don’t know what to do with all that.

“When you’re playing against guys who are really consistent, you have to find three or four ways to win points, and not just with your serve,” says Murray of his multi-dimensional arsenal. As a devout boxing fan, what would Murray do of there was a major fight in the US with one of his favourite fighters taking place during Wimbledon?

“The Mayweather-[Arturo] Gatti fight was on live around Wimbledon time two years ago. I remember I got up like at three in the morning to watch it. I couldn’t miss that one. The re-broadcast was on again recently on ESPN and I watched it again.” Andy’s favourite boxing film and book? “Will Smith in Ali. I don’t really read too much, but my favourite boxing web site is Secondsout.com, if that helps [smiles].”

And, just out of curiosity, who would be the ATP Tour heavyweight champion? “Someone like Ivan Ljubicic [6ft 4in, 195lbs] looks like he’s quite dangerous. You know, bald head, he’s quite strong, a muscular guy. I’d probably say him.”

 

:-(

 

..

 

i like murray , all you here on the bbc when he is beaten is that he has no charisma etc

so ****ing what , he is a sportsman not a singer/dancer , he is not in the business of having bags of charm/charisma etc

 

I've emailed him to see if he will join the buncey campaign

His people are gonna pass the message on to him after the tournament

 

Come on...when you make a comment like "anyone but England" when asked who you will be supporting during the world cup then you are not likely to endear yourself to the english public.

 

He said it in a joke man. Henman was jopking to him by laughing at the fact Scotland were not in the world cup so he cant support anyone and he replied I'll just support whoever is playing you guys. The exact same sort of banter we all use regularly with our mates, especially regarding footy. Even the fella who was hosting that day said it was all just a laugh.

I dont recall anyone from Scotland going crazy about Henman laughing coz Scotland were not in the world cup (coz we knew it was a joke )

 

I like him because he has an attitude like he doesn't give a **** :yep

 

Murray is quality. This seals the deal.

Fantastic player to watch...who gives a **** about his charisma. He talks like a winner and not a loser.