Martin Murray's quest for a world title at the third time of asking ended in disappointment but not embarrassment when he suffered an 11th-round stoppage defeat to WBA world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in Monte Carlo on Saturday.

The St Helens boxer was not a match for the unbeaten Kazakh, who ended the contest in the penultimate round with a barrage of blows, to earn his 32nd victory of his career, and 29th by knockout. It was a brave but ultimately fruitless endeavour from Murray as Golovkin led the contest from the outset and kept up his impressive record of winning all of his world title fights by stoppage.

“He was so strong, I just couldn’t keep him off. He's a good fighter. I just couldn't keep him off. Even though I caught him with a couple of good shots and caught his attention, he was still coming and still coming and throwing big shots. He would occasional catch me and you stop throwing the shots you want to throw because you start thinking 'he's going to catch me with one of these and put me out of there,' Murray told reporters.

"He is a tough fighter. I trained twelve weeks for this fight, I couldn't have done more. He proved that he's the best middleweight in the world and I think I'm the second best middleweight in the world. I'm just going to have a rest for a couple of weeks and see where I go from there. He hit hard, I could feel his power. But it wasn't really his power. It was his pressure with the power. I felt that I had a few good spells, but I just couldn't keep him off me."

One possibility if IBF champion Andy Lee - if he beats Peter Quillin in April. And Murray would even consider a move to super middleweight. 

"That would be a good fight, but he's got Quillin first. That is certainly a fight that I'd be looking for. There is plenty left in me. I just have to see what's left for me at middleweight," Murray said. "I obviously don't plan on moving up, but depending on the opportunity [I might]. I think I would be better at super middleweight than middleweight but the opportunities right now are at middleweight. I just have to see what's left at middleweight and if there isn't much I'll go up to super middleweight, but I think there will be."