Murray is the Prizefighter Middleweights Champion - 23/11/2008

MARTIN Murray is the Prizefighter Middleweights Champion.After an incredible final, Murray claimed a split decision verdict over Cello Renda at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.

Both fighters produced an amazing effort and got a standing ovation from the packed crowd at the end of the contest.

Murray floored Renda in the opening round but Renda produced a spirited effort as both fighters went toe-to-toe in a battle to claim the trophy.

Judge Terry O’Connor gave Renda the verdict by 29-28 but Phil Edwards and Howard Foster declared that Murray had won by a similar margin.

Murray wins £25,000 for his achievement, while Renda walks away with £12,000 for being the runner-up.

“I said I hadn’t come into this competition to lose and words cannot explain how good I feel,” said Murray.

“It was very close and just a shame there had to be a winner and a loser,” added Renda. “But the final showed what the sport is all about. It was an absolute pleasure to be involved in this and I can’t wait to be in the next one – put my name down.

Murray, a former amateur champion had been the pre-tournament favourite in the event, which was sponsored by PartyCasino.com and screened live on Sky Box Office.

To get to the final, Murray secured points victories over Northern Ireland’s Joe Rea before claiming a split decision triumph over Bristol’s Danny Butler.

Renda claimed the first knockdown of the competition when he floored Danny Thornton before securing a stoppage win in the quarter-final.

Peterborough-based Renda then followed that up with a points success over brave Birmingham boxer Max Maxwell.

The other quarter-finals had seen Butler, the youngest of the eight at 21, defeat former IBO light-middleweight challenger Paul Samuels, who at 35 years old, was the oldest boxer.

In the opening contest of the night Maxwell had claimed a controversial split-decision verdict over Southampton’s Steve Ede.

This was the fourth Prizefighter event and it was held at a packed York Hall in Bethnal Green. Once again Prizefighter showed why it has quickly become one of the most popular and most talked about boxing shows as the crowd were treated to a series of thrilling fights with each entrant giving everything they had to try to claim a win.

Four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final were held in one action-packed evening of boxing.

RESULTS
Quarter-finals
Max Maxwell bt Steve Ede – Split decision – 29-28, 28-29, 29-28
Cello Renda bt Danny Thornton – Ref stopped fight after 2 mins 35 secs of round two.
Danny Butler bt Paul Samuels – Unanimous decision – 30-27, 29-28, 30-27
Martin Murray bt Joe Rea – Unanimous decision – 30-27, 30-27, 29-28

Semi-finals
Cello Renda bt Max Maxwell – Unanimous decision – 30-27, 30-27, 30-27
Martin Murray bt Danny Butler – Split decision – 28-29, 29-28, 30-27

Final
Martin Murray bt Cello Renda – Split decision – 28-29, 29-28, 29-28

Date posted: November 22, 2008.