SOMEWHERE on the shelves of the Martin Murray household is a flickering DVD of a seven-year-old pounding the punch bag held by legendary local trainer John Chisnall.

Fast forward 23 years and that young boxer has come a long way from that first taster session at St Helens Town ABC and now stands on the threshold of what would be one of the greatest shocks of world boxing.

It is just a shame that Chissy, who passed away in August 2005, is not around to see his words of advice and hours, days and months of coaching come to fruition – win or lose.

This has been a long, arduous, sometimes painful and often frustrating road – but Saturday night, Sunday morning will see the pinnacle of the former Merton Bank Primary, St Augustines and Cowley pupil’s career.

There have been plenty of good times, winning schoolboy titles, ABAs and representing England - all under the guiding hand of mentor Chisnall.

But Murray’s passage from outstanding schoolboy protégé to fully-fledged world title contender did not always run smoothly – but the now mature 30-year-old father of three can reflect that even the bad things that threatened to derail his career “happened for a reason.”

There were breaks in his boxing – a period he spent in prison in which he describes himself as being “an idiot” – but believes the fighting game and meeting his wife Gemma put him back on the right path He said: “I was being stupid then and was not at the gym – when John (Chisnall) died I realised I had to do something with my life otherwise I was going to be stupid all of my life.”

In the recently published book on the sporting Chisnall brothers Murray explains his deep regret that he was in prison when his mentor died.

He recalls: “John was like a father figure to me. We were really, really close. Unfortunately, when he died, I was in prison and I was really upset. I had been speaking to him all the time and I knew he was ill. I wanted to be there for him and I couldn’t.

“Not being able to attend his funeral is one of my biggest regrets to this day. Hundreds and hundreds turned out for it though, it was massive. The number of people who turned out that day shows the respect with which he was held. He lived and breathed boxing.”

But Murray believes things happen for a reason and those things that happened made him more determined to succeed.

“Getting back into the gym and then meeting my missus at the end of 2005 probably saved me and I knew that was me settled and knew everything I needed to get out of my system had gone,” he said.