Rear View Mirror – Drew Docherty

Rear View Mirror – A look back at the career of two-weight British champion Drew Docherty

When boxers die, especially in the ring, it focusses us on the dangers that all boxers face. We reflect on the sport, take a moment and pause. As I write this, the news that Ricky Hatton has lost his life is a profound item of news. Much will be speculated, of that I am sure, over the next few hours, days and weeks but we have lost a titan.

Hatton lost his life, as did Willie Limond and Mike Towell, outside the ring. There was no hand at which he lost his life. What happens when the loss is inside the ring to the man in the other corner?

Let me take you back to 1995 and Jim Murray.

Murray had been on the way to be a champion but collapsed in the ring, in the 12th round of a ferocious encounter with Drew Docherty and then lost his life later on. It was a few short months after Gerard McLellan, at the hands of Nigel Benn, had collapsed in a world title fight and ended up having a massive clot removed from his brain.

Bantamweight Drew Docherty, 16-7-1, 14 KOs, the man who won that night. His victory was hollow. Not only was the fight remembered for such tragedy, but Glasgow mired itself in shame as disgraceful scenes happened with fighting in the venue just after the count was called on Murray in the ring. It was the 13th of October 1995 at the Hospitality Inn in Glasgow. On Boxrec it says, Murray died from injuries sustained in the fight. It’s a simple sentence for a complex story, from almost 30 years ago.

Docherty was inconsolable that evening. It had been a fair fight, one that had been as gentlemanly as any brutal encounter could be. It was a massively competitive fight, there had been little need for bigging the fight up, for catcalls or trash talk.

This was a fight to divide the best in British bantamweights with a couple of decent and honest pros fighting for their money – and not a lot of it at that. We were spoiled in Scotland because the best two in Britain were both ours!

Heading towards that fateful final round, Docherty was not in command and not in control of the fight. In short, he was losing. To end up with a Lonsdale belt in such circumstances was bitter sweet for Docherty. In the opposite corner, Murrays’ mum, had feared the worst as it was Friday the 13th. That night, Murray was carried from the venue and rushed to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. Two days later, from brain injuries, Murray died.

New measures were introduced thereafter and Murray’s promoter, Frank Warren set up the Murray Stone Fund, in memory of both Murray and Bradley Stone, also tragically losing his life to fund MRI scans. In 1995, boxing suffered one death, on average per annum. That has significantly reduced.

But it is easy to focus on tragedy when the man in the other corner should be defined not by what happened that night but form his distinguished career. Drew Docherty hailed from the tough surroundings of Condorrat near Glasgow and got to the heady heights of representing his country – Scotland – as an amateur. Six years before the Murray fight, in September 1989 at the Civic Centre in Motherwell, he made his professional debut and by his 9th fight was the British champion after he stopped Joe Kelly in the 5th round at the Forte Crest Hotel in Glasgow. On Burns Night, 1993, at the Albany Hotel, Docherty successfully defended his title with a points win against Donnie Hood.

Then came a move up in levels in early February 1994, at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, a Grande Old Dame of a venue. Docherty was in the opposite corner to the EBU champion, Vincenzo Belcastro but his attempt ended in failure as he lost on points.

Licking his wounds was hardly an option as he went back in the ring to hold onto his British title and managed to so do a second time on points at the Magnum Centre in Irvine against Adey Benton. .