For some boxers, fighting is more than a sport—it’s a way of life. And when that gets taken away, such fighters lose themselves in mundane life. Former European lightweight champion John Murray appears to have experienced this firsthand, as he recently appeared in front of Minshull Street Crown Court for attacking two women in 2023 and was jailed. 

The 41-year-old former champion was working as a delivery driver in 2023, and in the first month of the year, he attacked a woman after blocking her drive. The woman, who had her two children in the back seat, reportedly challenged Murray, which angered the former champion as he proceeded to punch her on the nose. 

His anger, however, wasn’t dulled by one punch, as he proceeded to land another before driving away. But not before hitting the woman’s car on his way out. “Her children were screaming ‘get off my mum’ as her partner came to help,” Prosecutor Eleanor Myers told the court. The woman suffered a broken nose, and according to her, the incident left her a changed person. 

“This changed me as a person,” she said in her statement. “I do not feel like I am the same person I was. I cannot leave the house on my own anymore.” This, however, wasn’t his only attack on women that year. Myers revealed that John Murray had badly attacked his ex-girlfriend in July 2023. He visited her house under the guise of discussing a family issue. 

Like his previous victim, the incident left a lasting impact. “This incident has really shocked me,” Murray’s ex said in a statement to the court. “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.” Before these attacks, Murray had pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex, who obtained a restraining order against him.

Murray was sentenced to three years in prison and barred from contacting his ex for seven years. He retired from boxing in November 2014 after a career that saw him share the ring with Anthony Crolla and appear on the undercard of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather. 

His retirement was far from voluntary, and in the years that followed, his life began to spiral in the wrong direction.

John Murray lived a painful life after boxing

Having started boxing after stacking shelves in a supermarket and flipping burgers at McDonald’s, he retired from the sport with a respectable record of 33-3 with 20 KO wins. In his last fight against Anthony Crolla, Murray had suffered a severe eye injury—specifically a detached retina in his right eye—which forced him to hang up his gloves. 

Disheartened by a career cut short at the age of 29, Murray opened a boxing gym, which gave him purpose in life. He trained amateur and professional boxers at his gym in Reddish, Stockport. However, that didn’t last forever as his financial condition forced him to close the gym. This pushed him into a life of struggle, and he felt that he lost his purpose. 

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John Murray’s story is filled with tragedy and trauma, which he couldn’t deal with. Would things have turned out better had he continued boxing?