Aussie challenger ready for war with Pacquiao

Australian boxer Jeff Horn, who is set to battle Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight title, is preparing for a brutal grinding fight of close combat in the biggest bout of his career this weekend. Touted as the “Battle of Brisbane,” the fight will take place Sunday at the Suncorp Stadium in front of at least 50,000 fans. It is the biggest boxing match ever held in Australia.
Horn, a 29-year-old former schoolteacher, said yesterday he has been coping with nerves but that he would fight reigning champion and boxing legend Pacquiao in a phone booth if necessary. His trainer, Glenn Rushton, has handed him a confidential 10-point victory plan, Horn said, which he almost knows it by heart.
“It’s a plan I’ve heard him speak to me about 1,000 times. It’s perfectly worded,” he told reporters. “What he’s written down is spot on and I can get the job done if I follow it 100 per cent.”
Horn is relatively inexperienced on the global stage but is undefeated in 17 professional contests, winning 16 and drawing once.
One of the main challenges for Horn will be to avoid Pacquiao’s devastating left hand, his knockout weapon.
“Manny is very experienced, very fast but we have the plan to beat him and I know he is vulnerable. He has been knocked out before and I will be going after him from the opening bell,” Horn said.
“I have watched and re-watched Juan Manuel Marquez knock Manny cold with a right hand (in 2012). The right hand is my big punch too.”
Rushton told reporters: “I have no doubt this is going to be a much better fight than we’ve seen against (Floyd) Mayweather, even (Jessie) Vargas and (Timothy) Bradley.”
Pacquiao, the 11-time world champion, arrived in Brisbane late Saturday with his wife Jinkee and a 160-strong troupe of family and friends aboard a chartered AirAsia flight from his hometown in General Santos City in the Phillipines.
“I love to brawl,” he said on Sunday, after attending a church service in Brisbane. “It’s going to be a war. I’m expecting him to come inside close to me, fighting toe-to-toe and I’m ready for that.
“In all my years of boxing, I have never been as motivated and fired up as this fight,” said Pacquiao, who is also a high-ranking Filipino senator.
“This is Jeff Horn’s big chance. I remember when I was starting out. I would lie awake at night and dream of winning a big fight. I know how Jeff Horn is feeling this week.”
His trainer Freddie Roach, who also coached Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya, among others, said: “We are here to win the fight.
“We don’t take anyone lightly. Horn is a little bigger and stronger, but Manny is faster and punches hard so it will be a good battle.”