'I'm ready for anything!' - Joe Murray interview by Terry Dooley Aug 7th 2008

During recent weeks there have been grumblings about the appalling conditions in China ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Accusations of oppression, grey uniformity and an unhealthy atmosphere have all been levelled ahead of the upcoming Games - who would have thought that going into the event there would have been such a cloud of controversy over the shroud of smog hanging over the city? Sure, there has been the odd arrest of a few oddball hippies to contend with but in recent weeks, from a purely athletic viewpoint, the most disconcerting images have been the ones of Beijing looking very much like a post-apocalyptic nuclear zone. All this despite a recent Chinese mandate that all gas guzzling vehicles must be thrown into the back of a black van and executed. For one boxing competitor, though, the fog will not present a massive problem. Joe Murray is from Manchester, a town engulfed by smog during the industrial revolution, a cloud that may, in turn, be party the reason for the fact that although the rain does not drop all year round it certainly seems to fall every time there is a major event in our lives. The son of a grim industrialised landscape, Murray will feel almost at home under the dirty grey skies of China. However, Murray hopes that the patter of rain on his hair will be replaced by the ruffle of Gold being placed around his neck this summer. An experienced campaigner on the International Amateur scene, Murray aims to take his good form from the AIBA World Championships into the biggest amateur boxing tournament in the world; Murray won Bronze in the Championships and this taste of success has left him eager to turn Bronze into Gold. A win over Commonwealth Gold medallist Bruno Julie took him to the semi-final, where he lost on points to Enkhbat Badar-Uugan. Only the second man from Manchester to represent Britain in the boxing event at the Games – Alan Tottoh was the first, losing his first round match in 1968 – Murray is aware that a medal win will present him with some great opportunities, both in the amateur and, possibly, the professional ranks. For now, however, Murray is focused on the task at hand. I caught up with him recently to ask him how he felt ahead of the biggest tournament of his life, he said: “I'm confident about the Olympics and I'm confident that I'll be ready for anything when the time comes. I was on cloud nine when I got the Bronze at the Championships as it qualified me for the Olympics. That was a big achievement and I've been trying to keep my weight down and train hard since. “Last year I had twenty fights and that is the experience that I'll take into the Olympics – plus I'll be fighting a similar calibre of opponent to the lads I've been fighting on the International scene.” Murray fights at bantamweight and feels that his impossibly long frame complements some of the aggressive aspects of his game, as he explained: “I'm a big bantamweight who can fight on the inside and on the back foot. Any style that comes up in the Games I'll be ready for it – I'm sure other fighters be ready for me as well but I've got a style that will cause problems for people.” The pre-Games publicity tour has seen the GB team appear on TV, in the specialist boxing press and in the mainstream newspapers; despite this early taste of what success will bring Murray is discounting all the pre-Games hype as just that: “It is down to business now, and my business is to win medals. No one remembers the guys who went to the Olympics; they remember who won the Olympics. I think it won't hit me until I go out there and get a medal. “I've always said I'm there for the Gold. I'm not there to make up the numbers. Getting a Gold shows to the world how good we (Britain) are at boxing. I won't be thinking about anything but the Gold.” With so many dangerous names in his weight class I asked Murray if he has drawn up a list of the men who will pose him his biggest danger, Murray shrugged before replying: “The dangerman is any of the other twenty-seven boxers in my weight class. Everyone is dangerous and I won't underestimate anyone. I'll make sure I'm feeling good all the time and (I'll) make sure that I do the business. Whatever Joe Gallagher and Terry Edwards ask me to do is what I will do because I can't go wrong if I take advice from people like that.” I first caught-up with Joe in June, a few weeks before his brother John fought for, and won, the British lightweight title, at that point Joe Murray was making his way back from a minor knee injury, since that time Joe has been preparing hard, he feels that the injury will not hinder him at the games: “I'm back in training and had got seven weeks to get ready. In the past I've sparred with Steve (Foster Junior) and other top fighters so the preparation is there. You are preparing yourself all the time and a little injury does not undo all that work. I'm ready for these Games.” A medal win will catapult Joe into the attention of many people, this is when the true test begins, I asked Joe if a win would see him return home with a Gold around his neck, a beautiful woman on each arm and a satchel full of cash, he lingered in thought for a moment, then another moment, then a few moments more, I finally regained his attention and he laughed any notion of change off: “Nah, no flash cars and women for me (laughs) I'm sure the people around me will keep my feet on the ground and keep me my normal self. I'll take it in my stride. If I get offers (to turn pro) I'll sit down and see what people offer me as an amateur and what they offer me to turn pro. “I went out on the Old Trafford pitch for United's last game of the season and was more nervous about that than anything that is coming up. It is not like you have to fight once you get out on the football pitch though so I enjoyed it in the end. Then I did an interview with Man United magazine as well. I just feel like I'm raring to go now and despite all that stuff I've loved being back in the gym. “I felt good last time I was in a tournament and I gave the world number one [Enkhbat Badar-Uugan] a good fight. People said the decision could of gone either way but he deserved the win. I reckon if we fought again I could beat him.” Murray had dodged the question about a potential dangerman, so I tried to pin him down a little by asking him to tell me who he would prefer to meet in the final of the tournament: “A dream final opponent could be a guy I've beaten easily but I could think “I'll beat him easily again” and jinx myself...I'll take any fight going as long as I'm in the final. The other fighters are all ready to try and beat me and I have to be ready to beat them.” This year the British boxing team is a very strong outfit, sign that the money that has been pumped into the amateur game is being well spent, ironically being a modern-day British amateur is a full time job, Murray meets up with the team every week and now sees the daily training regime as his working day: “It is like working because you have to go up to Sheffield four times a week [that does sound like grim work to be honest - it's paradise, Manc - Ed.] and stay up there [it gets worse, poor lad] so that is your work. You've not got an easy ride like you might have at your own gym and you are not left free to train yourself. Your part of a camp and in that way amateur boxing is a job because you have to work hard at it.” Joe has been a fixture at John's bouts yet Joe was unsure of how many family members he could get over to China. China has a strict permit policy, they permit very few people into the country, and once you get there you are permitted to do very little: “I'm trying to get my family over there but we're not sure yet. Fingers crossed. It would be nice for John to go over there with me because I'm always by his side, it would be nice to see him there by my side but it all depends as it is far away.” So far preparation, knee niggles aside, has been ideal for Murray, I again asked him how confident he is in his ability to maintain his fighting weight during the Games – Frankie Gavin yesterday had to leave the team due to the potential rigours of keeping himself at his fighting weight for two weeks: “We have to see how things go but fingers crossed everything goes well. We (the GB team) go into the Games fully confident of doing things. My weight has been perfect so I've no worries there. “I've been working with [nutritionist] Kerry Kayes for nutrition and strength. Kerry has made me strong at the weight. Keeping my weight down is a battle but I will be able to fight four or five times at the Olympics at my weight without any exertion on my body. “I'm a growing kid but I'm strong at the weight. Kerry always inspires me and tells me what he thinks and he helps me with his CNP products. He does well for me and gets the weight down the best way he can. “Maybe down the line I'll be chopping my legs off to make the weight but right now I'm strong and fit. We've tried crashing [taking weight off quickly] the weight off before and it doesn't work. You can't crash it off in two weeks; you have to do things properly and professionally. “Being a skinny kid works for me as well because they (my opponents) think I don't look like much but once I get ahead in a fight that is it, I don't lose my concentration and I'm there for the duration – I've been behind in fights and put it all into the last two rounds to win the fight. I'm confident no matter how the fight is going.” Finally, I asked Joe what it meant for him to make it this far, you may not get a prize for being there but in many ways being there is a prize in itself, Murray seemed enthused by the task ahead of him: “It has always been a dream of mine to get to the Olympics. People have doubted me in the past and I've proven them wrong. If anyone doubts me now I'll prove them wrong again. “I think a win for me at the Olympics will show people that they can make things happen for themselves. Don't blame other people for anything as you are the one who can go out there and do things for yourself.” Whatever happens Murray is young enough to take the experience in, and bold enough to go for it in a big way, this could be the start of a new chapter in the boxing lives of the fighting Murrays.

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