Murray was expected to try to maul Saunders as his best chance to win, but surprisingly the aging Murray's corner changed his tactics and by trying to show Saunders a different look, Murray took away his only chance to win as Saunders was able to control the fight from the outside with Murray unable to land from distance and waiting to try to rough Saunders up on the inside.
I agreed with two judges with Saunders a 120-108 winner and there were times that Saunders did attempt to step up the attack and stop Murray, but the game veteran managed to survive to the final bell in what should be his final fight.
Martin Murray ends his career as arguably the best fighter of his time not to win a world title in the four championship era, but the time is right for him to leave the sport.
Murray might have enough left to win some fights, but not at the world class level and at his age, why continue to take punishment if you aren't going to be a threat to win a world title?
As for Billy Joe Saunders, he looked very sharp in this victory, but how much of that was Saunders and how much was it the advanced age of Martin Murray?
It certainly does keep him very viable as a unification opponent for the Callum Smith-Canelo Alvarez winner and I'd like to see him back in the ring again before the spring to be ready for a big fight when it eventually arrives.
Saunders could also fight Gennady Golovkin, since Canelo Alvarez seems to have no interest in a third fight with Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, who looked awful last week against Gabriel Rosado, or Demetrius Andrade in a fight that almost happened before Saunders failed a PED test.
Should Saunders be motivated and sharp, he could win any of those fights,
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added two points to move the total to 163-152.
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