Murphy is funny because he's one of the few guys I liked the first time I saw him very early in his career (the robbery draw against Tukhugov) but he was likeable for a completely different reason than what he's shown in his last few. Originally he seemed to primarily be a sneaky 1-2 guy who needed a lot of room to be effective, and the Barboza fight has clearly shown he can still do that (even when it gets a little grimy and he needs to be taking room away) - so being able to beat Josh Emmett in a completely different way and take out a marauder in Pico so quickly is a little nuts, since both had different ways of making his preferred neutral-space jabbing a lot riskier or downright impossible. Obviously wasn't used in the same way since he could just box with his elbows, but it does remind me of how Calvin Kattar started adding in elbows to his game - where it was really hard to beat him in a jabbing battle, guys started relying on staying out of jabbing range and running in, and Kattar could just blow their face up with an elbow or two and make them sit there to get jabbed again (Ige, Chikadze, Emmett)
I don't think I love him against Volk, he's not super dynamic and so has to just win everywhere - but Volkanovski being on the decline and a fighter who does often work in big in-out bursts makes Murphy not too uninteresting. Murphy would seem to be a lot longer, and also being able to compete in the range battle as a feinty jabber could draw Volk into the shifty habits that got him in some trouble against Makhachev's counters (and could again make the elbows and knees pretty relevant as Volk has to cover ground). It's a pretty specific route, and there's a chance even current Volk could just patiently pressure him and make Murphy's sick intercepting weapons less of a factor - but does seem to be there as Volk grows a little less consistent. And think I'd have him 50/50 against the other guys right below Volk (IMO Allen and Jean Silva), which is pretty nuts for a guy who seems to constantly be navigating thin margins
Yeah I feel the same way about Murphy. I liked him for being one of those crafty neutralizing guys we always like and everyone else hates lol. But he's been even cooler lately
Volk is a really tough fight for him yeah. Really difficult for anyone who doesn't have a lot of dynamism, his path to victory is consistently getting the better of a patient striking battle and with how coherent volks tools are there aren't many who can do that. He has better for for certain types of boxing engagements, but hard to leverage that when Volk will keep him guessing so much on the counter, and his leads aren't nearly as unpredictable or well disguised
Great article as always!
Murphy is funny because he's one of the few guys I liked the first time I saw him very early in his career (the robbery draw against Tukhugov) but he was likeable for a completely different reason than what he's shown in his last few. Originally he seemed to primarily be a sneaky 1-2 guy who needed a lot of room to be effective, and the Barboza fight has clearly shown he can still do that (even when it gets a little grimy and he needs to be taking room away) - so being able to beat Josh Emmett in a completely different way and take out a marauder in Pico so quickly is a little nuts, since both had different ways of making his preferred neutral-space jabbing a lot riskier or downright impossible. Obviously wasn't used in the same way since he could just box with his elbows, but it does remind me of how Calvin Kattar started adding in elbows to his game - where it was really hard to beat him in a jabbing battle, guys started relying on staying out of jabbing range and running in, and Kattar could just blow their face up with an elbow or two and make them sit there to get jabbed again (Ige, Chikadze, Emmett)
I don't think I love him against Volk, he's not super dynamic and so has to just win everywhere - but Volkanovski being on the decline and a fighter who does often work in big in-out bursts makes Murphy not too uninteresting. Murphy would seem to be a lot longer, and also being able to compete in the range battle as a feinty jabber could draw Volk into the shifty habits that got him in some trouble against Makhachev's counters (and could again make the elbows and knees pretty relevant as Volk has to cover ground). It's a pretty specific route, and there's a chance even current Volk could just patiently pressure him and make Murphy's sick intercepting weapons less of a factor - but does seem to be there as Volk grows a little less consistent. And think I'd have him 50/50 against the other guys right below Volk (IMO Allen and Jean Silva), which is pretty nuts for a guy who seems to constantly be navigating thin margins
Yeah I feel the same way about Murphy. I liked him for being one of those crafty neutralizing guys we always like and everyone else hates lol. But he's been even cooler lately
Volk is a really tough fight for him yeah. Really difficult for anyone who doesn't have a lot of dynamism, his path to victory is consistently getting the better of a patient striking battle and with how coherent volks tools are there aren't many who can do that. He has better for for certain types of boxing engagements, but hard to leverage that when Volk will keep him guessing so much on the counter, and his leads aren't nearly as unpredictable or well disguised