Martin Murray beats Roberto Garcia to close in on fifth world-title shot

Martin Murray was fighting for the 42nd time in his professional career and gained his 37th victory

Britain's Martin Murray stayed on course for a fifth shot at a world belt by beating Mexico's Roberto Garcia.

Murray, 35, secured a unanimous points win in London to claim the WBC silver middleweight belt and move closer to a fight for Gennady Golovkin's WBC title.

The St Helens boxer got the verdict by 116-111 118-109 118-108 margins.

Murray needs to defend his silver belt once to become the mandatory WBC challenger for unbeaten Golovkin, who also holds the IBO and WBA world belts.

The pair fought in February 2015, with Golovkin winning in the 11th round.

That loss was one of four failed world-title bids for Murray, who drew with Felix Storm in December 2011, lost to Sergio Martinez in April 2013 and lost to Arthur Abraham in November 2015.

At London's O2 Arena, 38-year-old Garcia had a point taken away in the second round for a low blow, although he did stun Murray with a powerful right hook in the third.

But Murray produced good boxing skills, including numerous successful punches to the body, to take some close rounds.

The Mexican received a warning in the sixth for leading with the head before losing another point for punching around the back of the head in the ninth, although he ended the fight strongly.

'I believe there is a world title in me'

Garcia was a late replacement after Murray had been due to challenge WBO world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, who withdrew because of a hamstring injury.

That was the second time Saunders had postponed the fight after also pulling out of the bout in March with a hand injury.

"He's a hypocrite with double standards and an imposter," Murray said after Saunders' second withdrawal.

After the win over Garcia, Murray said he would be willing to fight Saunders, but only if there was a guarantee he would be paid in case Saunders pulled out again.

"You cannot trust the man, he has done it twice so for me to do it again there would have to be some insurance in place," said Murray.

"He loves being the world champion but does not defend his belts. If there was insurance in place I would fight him and take him to school.

"I do believe there is a world title in me. I just need the right fight at the right time."

Yarde, Davies and Dubois win in style

Anthony Yarde became the first man to stop Darius Sek and secure his 16th win, 15 of which have come inside the distance

On the undercard, English light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde maintained his unbeaten record with a seventh-round stoppage win over Dariusz Sek.

The Polish fighter was floored for the first time in his career in the opening round but stayed in the fight for another six rounds.

Londoner Ohara Davies gained the WBC international super-lightweight championship with a second-round knockout of Congo's Paul Kamanga.

Davies, 26, has now won 18 of his 19 professional fights, with his only defeat coming last July to Scotland's Josh Taylor, who beat Viktor Postol in Glasgow on Saturday to retain his WBC silver super-lightweight belt.

"I'm really pleased with this win and coming into this fight I was really nervous," Davies told BT Sport. "I'm back from under the bus, I thought my boxing career was over."

Daniel Dubois, 20, secured the vacant English heavyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage win over Tom Little to maintain his perfect professional record of eight wins, with all eight coming inside the distance.