MARTIN Murray has been forced to pull out of Saturday night's hastily arranged bout with Belarusian Sergey Khomitsky due to a virus.

The fight was going to be on the undercard of the Carl Froch v George Groves at the Manchester Phones 4U arena.

The contest had been arranged at short notice after the defence of his interim WBA middleweight belt against Australian Garth Wood in Sydney had fallen through.

Murray tweeted: "If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have none at all. Gutted I've had to pull out of my fight on Saturday with a virus.

"Sorry to everyone who paid for me."

The 31-year-old from Fingerpost is still due to be fighting in Monte Carlo in February.