Murray requires eye op

FORMER boxing champion John Murray has revealed he needs another operation on his right eye to try and stop him going blind.

The ex-British and European lightweight champion was forced to hang up his gloves in 2014 due to the injury, and now runs the Murray Machines Gym in Reddish, Stockport.

A retirement dinner party is set to take place for Murray at Victoria Warehouse on Friday 5 August to celebrate the 31-yearold’s achievements.

Tickets are still available for the event, which will comprise of a three course meal, a question and answer session with Murray, live music, a comedian and more.

The evening will be a welcome distraction for Murray, as he admits it has been difficult battling with his eye problems.

“It all started with a detached retina and now I’m almost completely blind in my right eye,” he said.

“I’ve had seven operations on my eye now and there’s no worse place to be operated on. Usually they keep me awake while they do it and it’s a horrific experience.

“They numb the eyeball and clamp you so you can’t shut it, then they start pointing needles through it, so it’s quite gruesome.

“I’m hoping this is the last one as this will be the eighth, because if you end up needing around 10 operations then you need to knock it on the head.

“The more operations you have the higher risk you have of then going blind in both eyes and you can’t put a price on your eyes, so it’s quite a big deal.

“In the first couple of years when it affected me I couldn’t really do pads with people as you can’t judge distance.

“Even stuff like walking down the stairs got a bit tough too, I’m managing to get by but it certainly makes things harder.”