Murdock strikes gold with Coast title fight
ROHAN Murdock has flown under the radar for all of his seven- year professional boxing career but he’s ready to blast into the spotlight with a world title fight on the Gold Coast next year.
The 76kg sensation, who has not lost for six years, will fight Russian Apti “The Tiger’’ Ustarkhanov on the Jeff HornGary Corcoran undercard in Brisbane next month with a view to challenging Mexican world champ Gilberto Ramirez on the Coast in 2018.
The world’s leading promoter Bob Arum is keen for Murdock, 25, from Nerang, to follow the same path as Horn, who won the WBO welterweight title from Manny Pacquiao before more than 51,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium on July 2.
“Murdock has a lot of talent, a lot of charisma and he can be a major star in the supermiddleweight division,’’ Arum said.
“He’s a work in progress but I am confident from what I’ve seen that he can be a big star.’’
Murdock has a record of 20 wins in 21 fights with his only loss a disputed points decision in 2011.
“Fighting for a world title on the Gold Coast feels unbelievable,” Murdock said yesterday.
“Bob Arum has promoted some of the biggest fights in history – so the potential for a world title just adds motivation for me to keep winning these next fights and bring that world title belt to Australia.
“We have a long road to get to that but we believe in our ability.’’