By Danny Winterbottom

Manchester Arena, Manchester - St Helens’ middleweight world title challenger Martin Murray entered the ring to McFadden and Whitehead’s ‘Ain’t no stopping us now’ and visitor Mirzet Bajrektarevic wasn’t able to put a dent in Murray as the popular North West fighter scored his second win at his new weight of 168lbs.

The end came at 2:51 seconds of round five with referee John Latham stopping the action with Murray well in control.

Murray who has shared a ring with Sergio Martinez, Felix Sturm and Gennady Golovkin during his middleweight campaign was too good for his Croatian opponent and looked unlucky not to have had a first round knockdown accredited to him after a long right sent his opponent stumbling to the ropes, Bajrektarevic using his left to steady himself on the canvas.

That small detail mattered little over the course of the fight as Murray landed with spiteful hooks to the body and landed every telling blow throughout with Bajrektarevic offering only stubborn resistance as Murray ran out an easy winner.

Murray is a fighter who tends to fight to the level of his opponent and in-between his middleweight title challenges he laboured to victories in keeping busy bouts, and whilst this wasn’t quite the case here the St Helens man needs another big challenge sooner rather than later.

“It was only a matter of time before I stopped him but the decision wasn’t mine it was the referee’s” said Murray after the contest. “I’m ready for the big fights now and Eddie is the man to get me those fights.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom says Murray will be placed in a big fight in September.

"We want to get him a big fight in September. He had two quick fights and now he's ready for a big fight," Hearn said.