Rohan ready to rock world
ROHAN Murdock is sure an eye-catching performance in Texas on Sunday (QLD time) can draw major attention to his ambition to be Australia’s next boxing world champion.
No secret has been made of the desire for Murdock to challenge super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez on the Gold Coast later this year.
First, Ramirez must stave off Ghana’s Habib Ahmed at the American Bank Centre in Corpus Christi, soon after seeing Murdock go head-tohead with Frankie Filippone on the undercard.
Murdock was a booming talent until a pair of unfortunate injuries stalled his career – first, it was a broken jaw suffered during a motorbike accident in Bali and then a hand problem copped during sparring.
The bout against 37-yearold Filippone will be his third since his return, having most recently fought in December on the Jeff Horn-Gary Corcoran undercard, and he feels as ready as ever.
“This is definitely the best position I have ever been in, fighting on a world title card,” he said.
“Not just a world title card but Gilberto Ramirez, who has the world title that I want.
“In America, (there is) massive publicity and exposure, so hopefully it gets some people talking about me and him fighting. So that’s how it is going to go, just put on a really good performance and people will start talking.”
With countryman Horn’s career taking off, the runway is clear for Murdock to win the hearts of the Australian public.
“It feels awesome. We have put in a lot of work,” Murdock said of the chance to become world champion.
“I have been boxing since I was 10 years old and me and Chris (trainer Chris Carden) have been working together for 13. These are the sort of things that you train for.
“We need to just keep getting these wins. We have seen Jeff do it and I don’t think that Jeff is any better than I am or any other top Australian boxer, so there is no reason why I can’t do it.”
Murdock has taken a lighter approach into his final week of training, with focus instead largely placed on finetuning and preparing for the southpaw style of Filippone – and, ultimately, Ramirez.