By Matthew Daniels

Pan Asian Boxing Association light heavyweight champion Paul Murdoch will fight for a world title on December 5 in France. The 31-year-old will confront Fabrice Tiozzo for the World Boxing Association light heavyweight crown after months of negotiations between the two camps were finalised this week.

“We’ve been in negotiations for a couple of months but I’m pleased to say the contracts are signed, sealed and delivered,” Murdoch’s New Zealand based manager Mike Edwards said. “These guys are a big outfit in France and negotiations went back and fourth for a while but in the end they were pretty good to deal with.”

Murdoch received the phone call every fighter dreams of on his way to a sparring session and was understandably ecstatic. “I’m absolutely over the moon but it is a little bit surreal,” he said. “All I’ve ever wanted and hoped for is an opportunity and now that I’ve got it I’m going to bust my guts to be 110 per cent ready.”

Murdoch and Edwards, along with father and trainer Bobby, have already devised a training regime that will ensure he is prepared for the once in a lifetime opportunity. “I’ve basically taken time off work because we’ve mapped out a program to see that I train three times a day,” Murdoch said. “Mike is coming down and we are going to put a lot of his program into what I’m doing but I’ll still be working on things with dad. There will be a lot of weights, running and sprints incorporated into the program because we are talking about a different league of fighting and although I’ve always tried to pick it up for fights in the past I have to take it to a new level.”

Murdoch climbed to number eight in the WBA light heavyweight rankings after successfully defending his PABA light heavyweight title six times. He last fought in July when he destroyed late replacement James Ellis in three rounds. Murdoch will enter the bout as the underdog despite an impressive record of 24 wins; five losses and one draw from 30 fights.

Tiozzo first captured the title with a majority decision over Silvio Branco in March 2004. In his first defence of the title he stopped Dariusz Michalczewski in six rounds, improving his record to an astonishing 47 wins and two losses from 49 fights. Murdoch will leave no stone unturned in his quest for glory and has already done his homework on the 36-year-old Frenchman. “He is an all round fighter, not fantastic at any one area but very good at everything,” Murdoch said. “The fighters over there are super fit and I’ve got video footage on the way so I’ll get to have a good look at him before we leave.”

With several Australian fighters including Kostya Tszyu, Anthony Mundine and Danny Green all falling short in their world title attempts during 2005, Edwards believes Murdoch can rise to the occasion and become the first Australian since Jeff Harding in 1989 to capture a light heavyweight title.

“I’ve been involved in boxing for 30 years as a manager, promoter, matchmaker and trainer and I’ve never dealt with anyone as good as Paul,” Edwards said. “He has always kept the faith, now he is in a two horse race where the odds say back the champion but the champion is 36 and he’s there to be beaten. Paul will be in top shape and we are not going over to France to come second.”