Former British boxing champion jailed for sickening attacks on two women | Boxing | Sport

A former boxing champion has been jailed after assaulting his ex-partner and attacking another woman in a row over parking. John Murray, 41, from Levenshulme in Manchester, enjoyed a successful boxing career before injury forced him to retire in 2014. He fought notable opponents, including Anthony Crolla, and appeared on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya vs Floyd Mayweather world title fight in Las Vegas in 2007.

Murray, who set up his own gym after hanging up his gloves, is now behind bars following attacks on two women. Minshull Street Crown Court heard the former British and European lightweight champion was working as a delivery driver in 2023. On January 20, he launched an unprovoked attack on a woman after blocking her driveway.

The victim, who had her two children in the back of her car, was punched in the face after she challenged Murray and another woman.

“As [the other woman] grabbed her hair, the defendant punched her to the face,” prosecutor Eleanor Myers said. “Her children were screaming ‘get off my mum’ as her partner came to help.”

Murray hit the woman again before leaving, smashing into her car as he drove off. The badly shaken victim suffered a broken nose.

In a statement, she said: “This changed me as a person, I do not feel like I am the same person I was. I cannot leave the house on my own any more.”

Ms Myers informed the court that on July 15, 2023, after separating from his former partner, Murray went to her home to discuss a family issue. Awakened by loud banging at her door, she looked out through a front window.

“She didn’t see anything outside that could have caused the banging, so turned her back,” the prosecutor said. “As she did, the defendant was coming in through the window”.

“She ran from the room and he followed her to the bedroom. He walked up to her and strangled her with both of his hands around her neck. He held onto her for 45 seconds.”

Murray grabbed her hair and repeatedly struck her in the head. They ran downstairs and she was thrown on the sofa by Murray, who jumped on her and bit her breast.

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After the attack, Murray stated: “Look what you made me do – look at your neck.”

The victim escaped outside whilst he shouted: “Get here you s**g.”

A member of the public stepped in. Murray attempted to punch him twice but missed.

The victim suffered bruising to her breast, neck and face, along with a cut to the back of her ear.

“This incident has really shocked me,” she said in a statement. “I never expected him to be so horrible in my life, and I hope I don’t have to again. I don’t feel safe in my own home.”

Mitigating, Isobel Thomas said Murray had a successful boxing career and was ‘admired by many’.

“His boxing career was cut short… after sustaining an eye injury,” she added.

“He was forced to find a new career and this was a difficult time for him. He opened his own boxing gym and that gave him a purpose. For financial reasons, he had to close the boxing gym. He struggled and felt he lost his purpose in life.”

Murray, of Lichfield Walk, Romiley, earlier pleaded guilty to strangulation; assault occasioning actual bodily harm; and assault by beating. He was handed a three-year prison sentence and banned from contacting his ex-partner for seven years under the terms of a restraining order.

Murray retired from the ring in November 2014, aged 29. He suffered a detached retina in his final fight against Anthony Crolla in Manchester that April.

Murray finished his career with a 33-3 record. He went on to train amateur and professional fighters at his gym in Reddish, Stockport, before it closed down.

Murray entered the boxing world after stacking shelves in a supermarket and flipping burgers at McDonald’s as a teenager.