MARTIN Murray believes he would have got the nod in Saturday night's world title challenge against Arthur Abraham had it not been in the German's backyard.

His agent and promoter have now urged the champion to come to Manchester and settle the argument in front of a sell-out crowd.

The Woolston-based fighter failed in his fourth attempt to be crowned world champion after being pipped on a split decision and in the immediate aftermath stated he would not challenge on the road again.

The all American set of judges gave it 115-112, 116-111 to Abraham, with one ruling it 115-112 to Murray.

In the post fight press conference Murray said: "I thought I'd got it. I don't think I missed anything – I thought I won the fight.

"I know I'm in Germany and have been here before so know what it's like but even still I thought I was going to get it today and that I'd done enough.

"That's the way it goes.

"If it had been anywhere else but Germany I'd have got the result, but boxing is boxing and that's the way it is."

Matchroom promoter Barry Hearn immediately threw down the gauntlet to the champion, telling him to come to Murray's home north west patch to defend his crown.

There was no immediate offer of a rematch from German promoters the Sauerlands, despite the closeness of the decision, with Abraham now going down the route of facing the mandatory challenger to his WBO World Super-Middleweight belt.

The 35-year-old also has a dream to unify some of the belts at the division which could further scupper Murray's plans.

But Hearn challenged Abraham, saying: "Win your mandatory first, we'll have a chat and then I'll go visit my bank manager."

He had earlier joined in with calls for Abraham to come to Manchester, taunting him with: "It would be novel for Arthur to come out of Germany for once.

"We would give him a load of money, come and fight me in Manchester and let's see what it's like.

"I am not going to criticise ref or the judges, they are seeing it as they see it.

"But Arthur is a great champion, a great man and great men take challenges to prove themselves as great men.

"So Mr Sauerland, let's do it in Manchester and see what it's like," Hearn said.

It was a view echoed by Murray's agent Andrew Mikhail, who was perplexed by the result in Hannover.

"Some of judges need glasses because I had Martin Murray by two or three points.

"He was well ahead in the sixth round, maybe it was closer than what I thought, but I was 100 per cent sure Martin got it.

"You have got to remember something about Martin - he is an absolute road warrior and I'm not sure how many times or how many bad decisions he can take.

"Everyone knows the Felix Sturm draw, then Sergio Martinez, in front of 40,000 who wanted to kill him, never mind Martinez.

"He came out of that, after dropping Martinez twice, with a loss.

"I look at Martin here and I am very proud to be associated with this boy - he's an absolute warrior

"But then I ask is Arthur Abraham brave enough to step out of Germany? You can only hide behind these walls for so long would be a absolute sell out and a great atmosphere

"Everyone knows Martin Murray deserves that chance again," he said.

Abraham now joins Gennady Golovkin, Sergio Martinez and Felix Sturm as champions who retained their crowns despite being pushed all the way by Murray.

It does leave Murray's career at something of a crossroads, but Hearn believes that the 33-year-old still has plenty to offer and has urged him to aim for a fifth shot next summer.

“There are so many big fights at super-middleweight for Martin and I want him to have a little rest, come back in the New Year and go again in a big fight at World-level in the summer,” said Hearn.

“Abraham is so underrated. People say he's one-dimensional, but he has a wonderful defensive guard, he hits hard, he's strong and fit, and he's very hard to beat.

"I hope he keeps his head up as he put in a great performance and he should be proud of himself.”