Arthur Abraham vs Martin Murray: Trainer predicts victory for Brit

Trainer Oliver Harrison expects Martin Murray to show he is the complete fighter and win a world title at the fourth attempt.

The 33-year-old St Helens super-middleweight (32-2-1-KO15) takes on WBO champion Arthur Abraham in Germany on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, having failed valiantly in previous attempts at middleweight.

Murray lost to Gennady Golovkin and Sergio Martinez and drew with Felix Sturm, all away from home, and Harrison is convinced those experiences will be a huge benefit against Abraham (43-4-KO29), who is in his second reign as WBO champion having previously held the IBF middleweight title between 2005 and 2009.

"If you look at those middleweight world title fights then you could say this is the easiest of them all for Martin and I can see why people might think that," Harrison told Sky Sports.

"Martin won't, though. What he does know is that he needs to put those three all together and say, 'Right, I am the complete fighter now and I will show what it's all about', prove it and beat Abraham.

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"Martin needs to win this one if he wants to go anywhere and he should beat Abraham."

Now Martin's up at super-middleweight he will show even more boxing skills,more punches, more accuracy and even more know-how
Oliver Harrison

The fight at the Tui Arena in Hannover will be Abraham's 22nd world title fight in the space of nine years, including a defeat to Carl Froch in 2010 and two wins over another British challenger Paul Smith in back-to-back defences between September 2014 and February this year.

Harrison is expecting Abraham to box the way he did in the rematch with Smith, as opposed to the first fight that ended in a controversially wide points decision.

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Image: Abraham is defending his WBO super-middleweight title

"Abraham hasn't changed for years," he said. "Hands held high, that big, hard right, he throws combinations at the end, and at most he does it for the first 30 seconds of the round and for the last 30 seconds. That's it.

"He will fight the same way he did for that second fight with Paul Smith but I don't think that will be good enough to beat Martin Murray.

"Now Martin's up at super-middleweight he will show even more boxing skills, more punches, more accuracy and even more know-how.

Murray's middleweight world title woe

Who When Where What
Gennady Golovkin February 21, 2015 Monte Carlo Lost TKO 11
Sergio Martinez April 27, 2013 Argentina Lost UD 12
Felix Sturm December 2, 2011 Germany Drew SD 12

"He needs to go for a big fight like this right now before he starts getting bored. He needs Abraham right now and it is a great division for British fighters.

"Carl Froch is, or was, the best ever at super-middleweight and before that we had Joe Calzaghe, who some say was even better, and now we've got James DeGale leading the way.

"But now Martin Murray is ready to go."

Fourth time lucky for Murray?

You can watch Arthur Abraham v Martin Murray live on Sky Sports 1 on Saturday night, along with Darleys Perez v Anthony Crolla.

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