Murdock has own beach battle plans
ROHAN Murdock has been buoyed by his rise into the world’s top five as he registers interest to be on the undercard of the proposed Jeff Horn Surfers Paradise beach fight once slated for him.
The Gold Coast boxer is in the final stages of preparing for his latest fight, on December 15 against Argentina’s Rolando Mansilla in Brisbane.
“This has probably been the best preparation I have ever had leading into the biggest fight of my career,” Murdock said.
“I’m looking forward to getting in there and showing that I belong with these world-rated fighters.”
Murdock has just recently been bumped up to world No.5 in the super middleweight division, marking a career-high.
He had twice reached No.6, the first time coming before a long injury lay-off caused by a motorbike crash in Indonesia and then a sparring injury.
“To be top five is an amazing feeling,” he said.
“You are eligible to fight for the world title if you are in that top 15 and if you’re in the top five you are being looked at very seriously so it does mean quite a lot. To fight for a world title has been the goal that I have had since I was 10.
“Being ranked so high now, I could get the call-up to fight for a world title any time.”
Murdock believes a top three ranking could be on the cards if he gets the job done against Mansilla, after which he is expected to then fight in Sydney in March.
However, he would not be counting himself out of a chance to join plans for Horn to fight Shawn Porter on the Coast in April.
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A Surfers Paradise beach bout had previously been discussed for Murdock.
“I’d love to be on the undercard,” was his immediate reaction to the prospect.
The man currently holding the WBO super middleweight world champion belt that Murdock seeks is Gilberto Ramirez.
The Mexican southpaw is undefeated in 38 starts but could soon be knocked off by American Jesse Hart.