This afternoon unbeaten Australian welterweight Jeff Horn (16-0-1) gets the chance to make boxing history on home soil when he faces off against future hall of famer Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2) for Pacquaio’s WBO welterweight championship.
» Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn live blog
The fight, being dubbed as the ‘Battle of Brisbane’ is set to take place in front of more than 55,000 people at Suncorp Stadium.
Despite being 38 years old, Pacquiao is still regarded as one the pound-for-pound best boxers on the planet.
While the Filipino superstar doesn’t have the same speed in his hands, he is still quicker than the majority of the division – including Jeff Horn.
The welterweight champion has also coupled that with a much smarter style of boxing, which sees him able to stay on the outside and control space rather than rely on speedy combinations which have seen him susceptible by counter strikes.
Legendary boxing trainer Freddy Roach claims that Pacquiao will be able to knock out Horn whenever he pleases, looking at Horn as more of a tune-up fight rather than a legitimate contender.
Pacquiao hasn’t a knockout victory since 2009, where he TKO’d Miguel Cotto in the 12th round to win the WBO welterweight title. His last nine wins have all come via decisions.
Despite not getting the knockouts which made him famous, Pacquiao has looked incredible since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr (49-0), dominating Timothy Bradley (33-2) and then Jessie Vargas (27-2).
Coach Roach has also put the pressure of a ‘must-win’ situation to the man he trains, saying that Pacquiao should retire should Horn stun the world with a victory.
Jeff Horn finds himself on the brink of becoming a global name in boxing.
Despite being ranked #2 by WBO, he finds himself unranked by most publications and relatively unknown outside of Australia and New Zealand.
(AAP Image/Robert Shakespeare)
Horn is undefeated, but the former school teacher hasn’t beaten anyone truly notable.
He has however shown what he can do to an opponent should he land a clean blow, with 11 of his 16 wins coming via knockouts.
The Australian will be the aggressor against Pacquiao and will look to overwhelm the Filipino with a high output of punches.
However, Horn is criminally inexperienced compared to Pacquiao, and has found him vulnerable to getting hit when he loads up his shots.
With Pacquiao’s ability to land shots from any angle he chooses, it could end badly for Horn should he decide to push forward.
Prediction
Not many people outside of Jeff Horn’s own camp are giving him much of a chance, but at 4-1 the odds are still reasonably close given the difference between the two fighters.
The only thing that Horn really has over Pacquiao is power and that will be his best chance to winning the fight – landing some power shots clean.
That’s much easier said than done and even is Pacquiao is dragged into a firefight, chances are Horn will come off second best
Manny Pacquiao via TKO
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