Alex Murphy: “I do all the tickets and look for sponsors myself. This is what a lot of people don’t see.”

Alex Murphy: “I do all the tickets and look for sponsors myself. This is what a lot of people don’t see.”

By Lewie Laing

With no concrete fight date as of 2024 so far, a fighter could be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas while they wait for boxing to conjure up the next opportunity. For Salford’s unbeaten prospect, Alex Murphy (10-0) he is doing quite the opposite. 

It has been a busy time for Murphy since he turned professional just over two years ago, and in 2023, he had 5 fights, all wins on points. Murphy had hoped to kick off 2024 where he left it in 2023, but with boxing being boxing, a fight date is yet to present itself. Murphy, however, is training hard in the gym, knowing a call could come at any moment as it has done in the past.

“I’m doing a lot of training at the moment but no fight date as it stands. We’re just waiting for confirmation and a date, but I’m still training and ticking over, staying ready because there’s going to be a date soon.

“It’s frustrating, and this is a first for me since I turned professional in 2021. I’ve had 10 fights, so I haven’t had this quiet period before. This is my full-time job, regardless of whether there is a fight date, I train all the time, I enjoy training and as soon as there is a date we will start a camp. My coach has been great, still taking me sparring and giving me all his effort. I’m just being patient and staying ready, waiting for that date. For example, in my 7th fight, I got offered a fight on a Wasserman show with 10 days notice, and I had a holiday booked for the day before the fight but I cancelled that as it was a great opportunity and by keeping myself in shape and ready, I could take the opportunity. Even during the holiday, I was planning on training over there. Call me whenever I’m confident I’ll be in shape and ready to fight.”

For all it is frustrating and a quiet time Murphy has not before experienced in boxing, he is enjoying the slightly slower pace to the start of this year. It has offered Murphy the chance to catch up on personal life and enjoy parts of life that are sacrificed when locked in back-to-back camps.

Murphy has a plan for this year, and although it hasn’t started how he had hoped, he is confident his end goal of 2024, fighting for a central area title, can still be attained. 

“The only positive is it gives me some normality this quiet time. I had five fights last year but since my last fight I’ve been able to enjoy myself a little bit more, I’m a big Bolton Wanderers fan so I’ve managed to get to more games and eat some nice food at restaurants while still training hard. I do prefer being in camp, I like the structure and routine it gives me.

“It has not been the best start this year activity-wise, but I want a couple of six-rounders, a couple of 8 rounders and hopefully a ten-rounder for a central area title, that would be the ideal year. The year is getting shorter, obviously, but with a couple of six-round fights, then two fights towards the end of the year, that’s still four fights for this year. I’m not rushing anything. It will all play out how it should, but I prefer being busy and active.”

Boxing was not Muprhy’s choice of sport growing up and he openly admits he just stumbled across the sport as a kid by pure chance, a chance that through circumstance or fait, has paid off so far for the 22-year-old boxer. 

Life has a way of throwing curve balls when least expected, and for Murphy, one boxing gym closing when younger and an injury playing football in his late teens left him to focus solely on boxing and from there, he has not looked back. It would have been understandable for heads to drop when injury affects a sport you’ve played the majority of your life, but Murphy’s mindset ensured he wouldn’t be disheartened at 18 years old. The switch to one sport, boxing, saw Murphy improve beyond expectation and not look back.

“I just sort of fell into boxing. I never asked to go to a boxing gym. Football was my sport, I played football, but when I was 8, the manager had a boxing gym and was a coach, so he used to take us to the gym for fitness once a week. I just took to it, and I enjoyed doing something new. It was probably an ego thing too, going to school telling everyone I do boxing!” Murphy jokingly told FightPost.

“But I used to travel once a week to the boxing gym till that closed. My mam then, by chance, found a flyer with details of a new boxing gym opening, 15 minutes from my house, so I started going there. But I played football till I got injured at 18, stopped the football, and focused fully on boxing. Since just focusing on one sport, my boxing took off, and it’s gone from there, leading to me turning professional at 20 years old.”

Boxing is known for the big fight nights, flashy lights, ring entrance music tracks, packed crowds, and bumper pay slips for all involved. On the surface, it is easy to forget that for the majority of fighters who decide to step through the ropes, the eye-catching nights are a far cry from the climb it takes to get there. 

Fighters undertake yearly medicals costing more for them than the average member of the public. Training camps have to be funded, tickets need to be sold, fights and personal brands need to be sold to the public across social media, and that is without actually working full time for most, training and fighting.

Murphy turned professional at 20 years old, and it is his full-time job. Most at Murphy’s level and experience have a full-time job and fit boxing around that. His position and ability to box full-time and be in the financial position to do so is not lost on Murphy, it is one of the reasons he works so hard and keeps himself in shape and ready at all times. Murphy, though, does explain how it can take its toll when trying to juggle the demands of the business side of boxing, explaining how demanding it can be and the pressure it adds. Thanks to his team and in imparticular, his girlfriend, Murphy manages to have most things organised and is in control of ensuring business dealings are taken care of.

“I do all the tickets and look for sponsors myself. This is what a lot of people don’t see. This is a business. It isn’t just training and fighting. All my sponsors, I’ve got them myself, I’ve had to come up with packages and pitches to put these sponsorship packages forward. Thankfully my girlfriend does a lot in the background for me, writing up emails and stuff like that but there is a lot more work that goes into this and the longer I don’t have a fight the harder it is.

“It can take its toll mentally. I got a good opportunity for my 8th fight, Channel 5, Wasserman show. I was getting my medical done, and two weeks before the fight, I got an email to say there had been a change in my brain scan. On an NHS waiting list, I’d have been waiting ages and my fight was in two weeks so paid to go private, on top of the medical I’d already paid for, it’s so expensive to just be cleared to fight. You then have to promote yourself and sell tickets, which impacts my wage for the fight. People want tickets, then they don’t, you have to chase people, it is all constant but I get to do this full time so I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Out of ten professional fights so far for Murphy, all have been won on the scorecards leading to jokes about the lightweight’s punching power. Murphy is not concerned at all about his punching power, explaining that he is a boxer who enjoys boxing and breaking down opponents. Murphy is yet to exceed six rounds in the professional ring but knows once he warms into fights and as the rounds mount up, stoppages will come. 

Murphy is driven, and his ultimate goal is to win a world championship. He knows at the moment he is early in his career and is happy to take his time working his way from the bottom to the top without missing a step in between, trusting his team and the vision he has in his mind. At 22 years old, time is on Murphy’s side, and he has the discipline and hunger to reach the top. 

“I’m not gifted with natural one-punch KO power, I’m not Deontay Wilder, I like to fight, I like to box and break my opponent down. I’m fit and get better as rounds go by. All my fights have been 4 round fights, I’ve been close to stoppages, but 4 rounds isn’t very long. I enjoy starting early to the body and working my way into fights. Everyone winds me up. I don’t have a stoppage on my record, but they will come. I’ve been in with tough guys. There are some fighters who are fighting lads with losing records. The journeymen don’t give much away. They are harder to break down. Once I get into 50/50 fights, there’ll be chances and more open fights. I’m a big fan of the body shots. Watching opponents slowly fade and break down is a good feeling.

“One hundred per cent I believe I’m going to be a world champion one day, I’m young, only 22, and I’m only going to get better, I’m going to dedicate my life to this for the next 10, 15 years. I’m not going to stop till I get there. This is my life. The improvements from my first to my last pro fight are ridiculous, I want to keep improving and learning. I’ve got no big ego or anything, I want to start with the lowest title, the Central Area title and work my way up one by one with the main aim being to reach the world scene and win a world title. I’m confident in my ability, and I’ve got the mindset, I’m going to do it.”

Photo Credit: Piotr Piechura