ACCORDING to Britains top tennis star Andy Murray, Muhammad Ali is probably the greatest sportsman ever. Tennis great Jimmy Connors was a huge Ali supporter and would drive all over to watch The Greatests 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 Agassis dad was an Olympic boxer for Iran. So what is Murrays connection to boxing? Its my favourite sport outside of tennis, says the 20-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, who counts Alex Arthur and Amir Khan as friends. I dont really know why I became a fan. I started watching when I was 14 and since then I watched all boxing thats on TV. Its 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, theres a lot of psychology involved. I guess its 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, youre going to play to that more. Theres a lot of comparisons between the two sports, so I think thats why I like it. Andys older brother Jamie, who won the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship this year with Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, added, It [Andys boxing interest] was kind of random. Anything thats on TV, he [Andy] will sit down and watch it. I dont really understand any of it other than you try to knock the guy down but hes telling me all the guys best punches or what hes 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. Thats inspiring. Its more the things that they went through, the way that they were. Thats 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 dont like him. They think hes 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. Mayweathers not a knockout artist, but hes the best boxer to watch. He doesnt 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 Murrays varied playing style sort of parallels Mayweathers 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 dont know what to do with all that. When youre 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 couldnt miss that one. The re-broadcast was on again recently on ESPN and I watched it again. Andys favourite boxing film and book? Will Smith in Ali. I dont 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 hes quite dangerous. You know,, bald head, hes quite strong, a muscular guy. Id probably say him. Incidentally, light-heavyweight Murray (he weighs around 12st 7lbs) is expected to battle the 28-year-old Ljubicic at Wimbledon this weekend, when Great Britain host Croatia for the right to return to Davis Cup World Group in 2008 (Ljubicic leads their head-to-head meetings, 2-1). Perhaps there will be a bit of boxing involved too, as the immortal words of Ali could have an inspiring influence on the outcome.