Manchester's John Murray will challenge Brandon Rios for his WBA lightweight title in New York this December. 26-year-old Murray (31-1, 18 ko's) will get his chance on the undercard of Miguel Cotto's WBA light middleweight title defense against Antonio Margarito at Madison Square Garden on December 3.

It's an amazing coup for Murray, whose career was in tatters following a crushing eighth round TKO loss to Dagenham's Kevin Mitchell in July. Mitchell had spent more than a year away from the ring following a devastating defeat of his own – losing in three rounds to Aussie Michael Katsidis in May 2010– and was most experts pick to lose to Murray. Instead Mitchell boxed like a dream from the opening bell, and then came on strong in the second half of the fight. A barrage of unanswered shots in the eighth round left referee Richard James Davis with no option but to stop the contest. It was the first loss of Murray's eight year, 31 bout career.

Prior to the loss against Mitchell, Murray was ranked second at lightweight by the WBC, and must still be considered one of the ten best 135 pounder's in the world today. A former British and European champion, Murray has beaten the likes of Lee Meager, Lee McAllister, Scott Lawton, Jon Thaxton and Gary Buckland in his career.

Prior to the Mitchell fight, Murray signed contracts with Britain's top promoter Frank Warren, and his subsequent world title shot on the back of his first pro defeat is testament to the negotiating skills of Warren.

Murray was ecstatic when he heard the news of his title shot.

"I'm going to be in phenomenal condition. I'm over the moon at the minute, I'm ready to go to work and bring back that title. It's a massive challenge, but it gets the fire in the belly going. I've been in training for four weeks already, I'm going over there to win this."

25-year-old Brandon Rios (28-0-1, 21 ko's) was born in Texas but is now based in Oxnard, California, also the home town of current middleweight king Sergio Martinez. An outstanding amateur, Rios compiled a record of 230 wins against just 35 defeats prior to turning professional in 2004. Under the promotional banner of the legendary Bob Arum, Rios has made solid progress in the pro ranks. Last September he became the first man to defeat the highly touted American prospect Anthony Peterson, winning by a seventh round disqualification when he was clearly ahead on all three judges scorecards. Rios captured the WBA lightweight title with a 10th round TKO over Miguel Acosta in February of this year. He successfully defended it in July with the third round knockout of of Urbano Antillon.

A cocky, confident character, Rios is a fluent Spanish speaker, and friend of the controversial Antonio Margarito. Prior to Margarito's WBC super welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao in November 2010, Rios, Margarito and several others were caught on videotape mocking Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, who suffers from Parkinson's syndrome. Afterward Rios apologized for his behavior and claimed that he was unaware of Roach's illness.