Injury scuppers Murray defence

21 September 2009 – By Mark Doyle

Andy Murray has been forced to pull out of his scheduled European Union lightweight title defence against Pasquale Di Silvio at The O2 on Saturday night through injury.

Cavan native Murray suffered a broken collarbone in training and is now facing six weeks on the sidelines.

“Im gutted as it would have been a huge opportunity for me,” the undefeated 27-year-old said.

“Training had been going really well and as luck would have it the break happened in my last sparring session for the fight.

“I had hurt it a few days earlier but you always have aches and pains in training and you shrug them off. In the back of my mind I was a little bit worried about it but then during my last sparring session I actually heard the snap and I knew straight away it was broken.

“Its quite painful at the moment but the doctors said that if it heals right I should be ready to start training again in six weeks so hopefully I wont be out too long.”

Promoter Brian Peters is devastated by the withdrawal but is confident that the setback will not hinder Murrays climb towards the upper echelons of the lightweight division.

?>

“Its bitterly disappointing for Andy to miss out on Saturday because it would have been a big stage for him to show people what hes capable of,” he lamented.

“Im sure it wont be too long before we see him back in the ring. Hes a tremendous talent and I believe hes Irish boxings next big star.

“Hes already European Union Champ and I see no reason why he cant get his hands on the full European title next year and push on from there.”