MARTIN Murray will feel under no pressure when he enters the ring at the SSE Arena, Wembley on Friday night for what will be a remarkable fifth tilt at a world title.
The veteran St Helens fighter, now aged 38, goes in as a massive underdog against the current WBO Super-Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders.
Murray describes the bout as a “win-win” and while accepting he is in for a tough fight, he genuinely believes that this is his time.
Billy Joe Saunders puts his belt on the line against Martin Murray. Pic: Mark Robinson/Matchroom
Murray said: “It is a difficult fight like all my big fights.
“Billy Joe offers me something different, but is similar to Sergio Martinez, although he is a bit younger and a bit slicker, plus I am a bit older.
“Billy Joe is a southpaw, which makes it awkward, but I have always done ok with those.
“He also likes everything his own way so it is about me not giving that to him - not letting him have it on his terms where he finds a rhythm.
“I have to be on him and work him and take him out of his comfort zone.
“But I know it is going to be a difficult fight. It is one I have trained for, so I am ready for it, but I am expecting a hard fight.”
Martin Murray. Picture: Mark Robinson/Matchroom
There is an age difference, with 38-year-old Murray being seven years older than the champion.
But he still feels fresh.
“It is a win-win for me, everyone has written me off so there is no pressure on me.
“But I know that I rise to the big occasion and you see the best of me in the big fights,” he said.
In his previous Murray challenges received a harsh calls when he drew with Felix Sturm and lost to Arthur Abraham in Germany, and many felt he had done enough to beat Sergio Martinez in Argentina.
Only in the late stoppage against Gennady Golovkin has Murray been clearly defeated when fighting for a title.
Those experiences have been banked now, but Murray says he has parked something else that hung over his pro career for so long.
“I had an unhealthy obsession with winning a world title.
“Nobody has ever won a title from St Helens – I wanted to be a world champion for myself, for Oliver, for my family and for St Helens.
Martin Murray. Pic: Mark Robinson/Matchroom
“I was focused on that and I look back I realise how much of an unhealthy obsession I had with winning a world title.
“For me now I am a lot more relaxed about the situation.
“I have always believed in myself, but nobody has ever done it in five attempts.
“I do really feel like it is my time and I can’t wait for it,” Murray said.
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