The highly ranked and totally untested #2 WBO Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) is thinking about the millions he’ll get if he can upset 38-year-old Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) to take his WBO welterweight title in a little over 2 months from now on July 2 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. A victory for the 29-year-old Horn would make him a big name in Australia, and that would obviously mean money for him over there.
Since the Pacquiao-Horn fight isn’t going to be televised on HBO PPV in the States, Horn will still be an unknown in the U.S if/when he beats Pacquiao. The Pacquiao-Horn fight hasn’t attracted much interest in the States due to the casual boxing fans not knowing who Horn is, and there not being much of any actual promotion of the fight. If Horn wins over Pacquiao, he’ll be a name in Australia and only there.
The real question is why is Horn getting a world title shot? That’s the strange part. He’s not been fighting quality guys since he turned pro, and he’s been getting knocked down by some of old fighters like 43-year-old Randall Bailey and 38-year-old Ali Funeka. The World Boxing Organization has some very strange rankings right now. Horn is just one of the odd names that doesn’t fit in given his lack of wins over quality fighters.
Tim Bradley is ranked #1 despite the fact that he hasn’t in 1 year since he lost to Pacquiao last year in April 2016. Is the WBO freezing Bradley’s ranking? It doesn’t make sense for an inactive fighter to still be ranked at No.1 after a year ou of the boxing ring.
“I don’t have anything against Manny. He’s a legend,” said Jeff Horn to The Courier Mail. “But this is my chance. I know the important of it. If I beat him, I’ll make millions and who knows what will happen when the bell goes? If you believe in yourself and you have a goal you can get there. I know he’ll come charging at me throwing a lot of punches. I know I really have to watch his big left hand but If I can get him to walk into my right cross, who knows – I might knock him out in the 1st round like I did to Sam Colomban when I want the Australian title.”
I’ve never heard of Sam Colomban (24-10-1 11 KOs), the fighter that Horn speaks of knocking out in the 1st round. But in looking at Colomban’s ring record, it’s clear he’s a journeyman and not a contender. Why then is Horn putting Colomban and Pacquiao in the same light? Beating a journeyman isn’t the same thing in trying to beat a champion like Pacquiao. I know Pacquiao is getting up there in age, but he’s definitely not a journeyman.
I think it’s safe to say that Horn WILL NOT be knocking Pacquiao out in the 1st round. Horn is too slow of hand and foot to score a big knockout over Pacquiao. He’s also not a big enough puncher to knock Pacquiao out. If anyone’s going to get knocked out in this fight, it’s probably going to be Horn.
“I think Jeff Horn will make an exciting fight,” said Pacquiao. ”I throw a lot of punches and he likes to go toe-to-toe. He is very aggressive,” said Pacquiao.
Can Pacquiao get motivated enough to beat Horn? If Pacquiao is going to lose this fight, it’s going to be because of Horn not being someone that will properly get him motivated. It’s kind of sad that Pacquiao has been saying that he’d never heard of Horn before he was selected for him to fight by Arum. Earlier this week, Pacquiao admitted that he’d never seen Horn fight before, but he was planning on watching several of his fights eventually to get acquainted to how he fights. It’s surprising that Pacquiao would agree to fight someone that he’s never seen fight before.
When you hear stuff like that, it makes you wonder if it’s true that Arum calls all the shots for Pacquiao when it comes to selecting who he fights or doesn’t fight. Pacquiao is a politician, and he probably should be doing his homework a little bit better than this for things that are important.
“It’s much more than a dream come true for me and all the people who have helped me get here but now I have to make that dream a reality and take Manny’s world title, said Horn to Fight News.
I’ve seen 3 of Horn’s past fights against Bailey, Funeka and Rico Mueller. Those were not impressive performances by Horn. He was hit a lot by all three of them. As I mentioned earlier, Horn visited the canvas in the Funeka and Bailey fights, and those old timers that started their careers out at lighter weights than Horn. Getting knocked down by older guys like is probably not the best news that you’d like hear about for someone getting a title shot against Pacquiao. Never the less, Horn was picked out by Arum, you can argue that this is a business fight for the Filipino star rather than a sporting one. There’s reportedly a lot of money coming from the Australian side for the fight. Would Pacquiao be fighting Horn if there wasn’t a lot of Australian money? My guess is no. Horn would have likely been ignored.
“Manny tends to be very aggressive offensively; he leaves himself open for a counter. Jeff, when I watched him, is a terrific counter-puncher,” said Arum via Fight News. “That’s going to be his strength. When Manny attacks, will Jeff be able to stand there, face Manny’s punch and hit Manny with a counter right? If he does, with what strength can he hit him and what effect will it have? That, to me, is the fight,” said Arum.
When you hear Arum building up one of Pacquiao’s opponents like he’s doing with Horn, it’s a signal that this fight could be a mismatch. Arum is the promoter, and he’s obviously trying to increase interest in the Pacquiao-Horn fight. Arum’s job would be much easier if he would have just selected a good opponent that the U.S boxing fans had heard of like Keith Thurman. As we’ve seen recently, Thurman has been calling Pacquiao in the boxing media. He’s been letting the fans know that he wants a unification fight against Pacquiao. That should have been the fight that Arum made instead of putting Pacquiao in with Horn. At least it would keep Pacquiao’s name alive with the U.S boxing fans. It’s been 2 years since Arum matched Pacquiao up against a big name in Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that fight was a real dud. Arum has since put Pacquiao in with Jessie Vargas and Tim Bradley.
There was interest in Pacquiao-Bradley in the past in 2012 and 2014, but the idea was old by the Arum trotted Bradley out for a third fight against Pacquiao. It was stale match-making by the 85-year-old Arum. Now has topped that by matching Pacquiao against Horn.
There’s a lot of great fights out there for Pacquiao if Arum would let him fight some other guys outside of his Top Rank stable that the boxing fans want to see. Horn is not in demand by the U.S fans, and they’re the ones that purchase Pacquiao’s fights on PPV.