Murray grinds out win

Manchester got a successful start to the weekend when John Murray won his lightweight bout at the MGM Grand conference centre on Friday night, but it was a tougher than expected night's work.

Murray, who stretched his unbeaten record to 23 bouts, was pushed all the was by Miguel Munguia, from Mexico, but came through win a unanimous points victory.

But he looked sluggish, struggled to use his jab and found his opponent's awkward and sometimes wild punches often found their mark. His worst moments came in the seventh round when Munguia had him under repeated pressure and landed several hard shots.

Still, Murray came through the difficult moments to win on the three judges' scorecards by 96-94, 98-92 and 97-93.

Murray, 22, said he believed that being around the Hatton fight had distracted him. Less than three hours before he was in the ring, Murray and the rest of the British boxers on the show had been introduced to the crowd the Mayweather-Hatton weigh-in. "I just felt flat," he said. He was wild with his shots but I struggled to get going. I have been in the gym since June or July and peaked in my last fight. I think I need a couple of weeks off.

"It's all good experience, but I think I might have been thinking about Ricky's fight as much as mine."

The show had a cracking co-main event between Bronco McKart and Enrique Ornelas for the NABF middleweight title which featured four knockdowns. Ornelas was down in both the first two rounds and McKart was down in the fourth and fifth, after which he was pulled out by his corner.

Craig McEwan, the Edinburgh middleweight who boxed at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 before turning professional under Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, was impressive as he extended his unbeaten record to nine with a unanimous points win over Alfredo Contreras, of Mexico. There were also good win for the pair from the West Midlands, Dean Harrison and Martin Gethin, who both remained unbeaten.