A
city was divided, as two cult
followings went to war in Manchester,
represented by those most familiar of
sport’s tribal colours in red and blue,
but this Manchester derby did not
unfold on the lawns of the Etihad or
Old Trafford, rather the canvas
adorning the heart of the Phones 4U
Arena in front of a raucous crowd on
Saturday night.
And this time it was red that
prevailed, as United fan Anthony Crolla
beat friend and former gym mate John
Murray against the odds; scoring a
tenth-round stoppage after executing
a perfect gameplan to seize control of
the action early on. Unfortunately for
the Manchester City loving Murray,
red was the predominant colour on the
night, as it poured from under his left
eye and his nose to substantiate his
opponent’s consistent accuracy.
Million Dollar performance
seals Manchester Derby
for Crolla
4
BOXINGMADMAGAZINE.COM
Nevertheless, the challenger for
Crolla’s WBO Inter-Continental l
ightweight title entered the odds-on
favourite with the bookmakers on the
night. Murray had mixed at a much
higher level than Crolla as a former
world title challenger, who’d reportedly
bested the sparring sessions that the
protagonists had whilst both under the
tutelage of Crolla’s trainer, Joe
Gallagher.
Murray split with Gallagher under
acrimonious circumstances after his
failed world title bid against Brandon
Rios and the clear animosity between
the pair in the build-up added spice to
the clash. The fighter had plenty to say
about the fractured relationship in the
weeks leading up to fight niht and his
former mentor responded by predicting
a Crolla win within six rounds. To most
that seemed like an emotional
assessment however, with Crolla – a
light hitter – not expected to best his
Crolla (28-4-1, 11 KO’s) came into
teak tough opponent within the
the bout off the back of a spectacular
2013, in which he’d revived his career scheduled twelve rounds.
with a draw against Derry Mathews, a
If anyone would bring about an early
victory over Gavin Rees and a stopconclusion it would be the 29-year-old
page of Stephen Foster Junior.
Murray, who flew out of the traps in
Conversely, Murray’s form heading
into the encounter was a little harder to trademark style and set about
determine, with back-to-back victories stalking his prey, trying to score with
body shots as Crolla circled and
of overmatched Michael Escobar and
landed stinging jabs to steal the
John Simpson following a two-year
opener. Crolla looked composed and
hiatus from the sport.
employed his evasive tactics to good
effect, but the pendulum swung a
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