Murray gets Munguia

John Murray, the unbeaten Manchester lightweight, has been given a decent test for his appearance in Las Vegas next Friday.

Murray, who boxed on the undercard of Mayweather's fight with De La Hoya in May, and a string of other British boxers will be in action in a bill at the MGM Grand's Conference Center the evening before Ricky Hatton challenges Floyd Mayweather Jr for the WBC welterweight title.

He will face Miguel Angel Munguia, a 25-year-old Mexican, who boasts a record of 16 wins, nine defeats and a draw. But while he is only 2-9 in his last 11 bouts, he is fresh off a ten-round points win over another unbeaten prospect, Jose Diaz, in California on November 2. Prior to that he had gone the distance with Vicente Escobedo, who was the US representative at the Athens Olympics.

“It’s a dream to be fighting in Las Vegas again and is great experience for me," Murray, 22, the 2006 Young Boxer of the Year, said. "It will be a good chance for me to put on a good show in front of a lot of British fight fans who might not have seen me before, especially Manchester fight fans.

“There’s 25,000 Brits coming out to Vegas to see Ricky, so hopefully a few will come down to watch some more boxing the night before. Not everyone could get tickets for Ricky’s fight, but they’ve got the chance to see two other Manchester fighters the night before. It’s a great chance to show my talent to the American audience again and I feel great after my last performance."

Lee Meager, the former British lightweight champion, is also in action on the bill against another Mexican, Jose Alberto Gonzalez, who has a 14-4 record and also appeared on the Mayweather-De La Hoya bill, losing to Australian prospect Billy Dib.

Other Brits scheduled to be on the Friday bill are Craig McEwan, Jimmy Campbell, Martin Gethin and Dean Harrison.