• Boxing

Murray: If Macklin won't fight me, I'll go after Golovkin

Martin Murray believes he is being avoided by the likes of Matthew Macklin and Andy Lee © AP

Enlarge

St Helens middleweight Martin Murray faces Italian Domenico Spada in Monte Carlo on Saturday and tells ESPN that victory will keep him on course for a showdown with Gennady Golovkin, who registered his 28th knockout in 31 fights on Saturday. Murray, who has twice challenged for world middleweight titles, believes a fight with Golovkin in 2015 is more likely than with British rival Matthew Macklin.

Beating Domenico Spada will lead on to a world title fight. There are some big fights available with the likes of WBA champion Gennady Golovkin and WBC champion Miguel Cotto out there, but the middleweight world title belts are all in America.

Among the champions, only Golovkin will travel - he's fought in Monte Carlo recently as well - so he is the most realistic opponent to aim for. Last year we were supposed to fight and it never happened, but that wasn't down to me.

Gennady Golovkin is unbeaten in 31 fights with 28 knockouts, but Martin Murray believes he can be stopped © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Features: Macklin ready to risk it all for Golovkin
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Macklin, Dan, Smith, Adolphe
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Brook, Smith, Mainwaring
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Wright, Askin, Conjanu
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Butler, COyle, Maccarinelli
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Fury, Murray, O'Sullivan, Burkinshaw
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Murray, Burkinshaw, McKenzie Roundtable
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Frampton, Kelley, May
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Groves, Maxwell, Johnson
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Hopkins, Dickens, Ayers, Briggs
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Fury, Malignaggi, Spicer
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Crolla, Ogogo, Sanigar
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: DeGale, Rodney, Fowler
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Lee, Murray, Price
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Eubank Jr, Fury, Charles, Whiteside, Ryan
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Whyte, Crolla, Douglin
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Booth, Couch, Butler
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Cleverly, Ajisafe, Barrett
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Campbell, Hall, Lee
  
• News: Murray seals deal for Golovkin title shot in Feburary
  
• Features: Golovkin's knockout run up there with the best
  
• Features: Buncey's Boxing Podcast: Murray, Coyle, Katsidis, Smith
  
• News: Golovkin delivers another knockout blow
  
• Features: Ward is on the horizon for dominant Golovkin
  
• News: Flower handed six-month ban for punching Hohaia
  

Golovkin is beatable, no matter how good he looks. You can't knock people for winning and knocking out whoever is put in front of them, and he is proving to be a monster. Being brutally honest, I've not seen any flaws in him, but I know I am capable of beating anyone in the world when I perform at my best.

Golovkin is the toughest fight out there for me, but I can beat anyone. I know I have got higher levels in me.

Jermain Taylor has just won the IBF world middleweight title from Sam Soliman. It wasn't a good fight to watch, and embarrassing for a world title fight. I know I would beat the pair of them, as would a lot of other middleweights around the world. There are far better fighters out there who should have been given the chance.

As much as I want the fight, I don't think there's a chance of me facing Matthew Macklin now. We tried and failed twice to make it happen. Still, I would still love to fight him, Ireland's Andy Lee or Darren Barker.

I have never been approached by either Macklin or Lee's teams, which just shows they are swerving me. They won't fight me because they know it would ruin their dreams of fighting for a world title.

Spada pushed Barker close three years ago. He's quite awkward and dirty - it works, but I believe I'm a level above him. There was only Spada who would fight me; the fight was offered to plenty of boxers and only Spada accepted it.

I was supposed to be best man at my brother Danny's wedding in Cyprus but couldn't go because of this fight. I was gutted that I missed it but I'm happy that my career has got a structure to it now, and I know what I can and can't do. This time last year I was in limbo.

When I split with my last promoter Ricky Hatton, I had promoters from all over the world on, but it was Rodney Berman of South Africa-based Golden Gloves that seemed the most genuine.

Golden Gloves gave me a good offer and I knew they would look after me - I would be their main focus rather than just joining a pile of other fighters with another promoter. They offered me a three-fight deal which included fighting in Monte Carlo, and I went for it.

This fight is going to get me great exposure. It will be live on Channel 5 in the UK and I've been told it will be shown on ESPN in America, which I'm really happy about.

I hope I can land one on Spada like Ben Flower's punch in the Super League Grand Final. It was a belter, but clearly out of order - he just got carried away with the occasion. He has reacted and caught him clean.

To do what he did when the other lad was on the floor was not good to see and I'm sure he regrets what he has done.

As a St Helens fan, however, the incident didn't take anything away from what was a great day.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd