Pacquiao keeps low profile; Horn gets louder ahead of fight

While Horn’s run is just starting out and he is still undefeated, the Australian has never faced a fighter of Pacquiao’s calibre and he needs to get the win to take his career to the next level.

Horn fans will be quick to point out that Pacquiao’s chin isn’t what it used to be, and the Filipino great crumbled when clubbed by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, which is absolutely true, but Horn does not have a fraction of the power of Marquez.

Jeff Horn may be the picture of confidence heading into his fight against Manny Pacquiao on Sunday, but when the bell rings, the young Australian will be in for a rude awakening. Lonergan said more than 47,000 tickets had already been sold — already nearly 10,000 more than the Australian record for boxing — and they were on track to top 50,000. His 17 professional fights are dwarfed by Pacquiao’s 67 bouts.

Even with a hometown crowd, Horn has little chance of pulling off an upset against such a crafty boxer. “He loses on points to Manny Pacquiao, an all-time great, there’s no shame in doing that and it’ll expose him to the wider worldwide boxing public”. The bar had once been set at fighting legends each time out, then it became a 10-year streak of fighting exclusively against fighters who were former or current world champions. And a big knockout win from Pacquiao might entice viewers to tune into that network should he fight there in the future.

Bradley and Horn’s coach Glenn Rushton were in deep discussion yesterday over battle plans for the fight. The ironic thing is, if Floyd Mayweather were still fighting as a boxer instead of exclusively for attention and money, it’s conceivable he would have his hands full with Thurman, and I’m sure some observers would favor Spence to beat him if they signed to fight before the end of 2017.

He may be treated as an after-thought following the loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr, but Pacquiao is no one’s stepping stone. You can also stream the fights on WatchEPSN.com or the WatchESPN app.

“I think many more fights await”.

Jeff Horn last fought in Brisbane in front of 1,500 people but now the Manny Pacquiao juggernaut has rolled into town.

However, it seems like he picked the least popular fighter as he ran a Twitter poll with fans picking Amir Khan, Kell Brook and Terrence Crawford to be his next opponent.

“These boxers were some of my favourite boxers when I started boxing”, he said.

A move in the right direction for the sport of boxing and the fans who have been crying foul a long time about purchasing pay-per-view fights that did not live up to expectations. It’s a low-risk, high-reward assignment for Mayweather, who thrives on his image as a ruthless money man, and is thus forgiven more easily than wholesome hero Pacquiao. The fight has been met with much criticism since being signed months ago. He joined ESPN Australia’s team in June, 2013. Pacquiao’s pay-per-view buy rates have steadily dipped after the letdown of the Mayweather fight.