Horn primed for blockbuster Crawford bout after defending title

Bob Arum believes Jeff Horn stands a genuine chance of upsetting Terence Crawford after he set up a blockbuster fight with the unbeaten American in Las Vegas next year.

Horn retained his WBO welterweight championship with an 11th-round stoppage in his voluntary defence against feisty Englishman Gary Corcoran on Wednesday night in Brisbane.

It was a willing battle but Corcoran’s corner threw in the towel as Horn zeroed in on a deep cut near the challenger’s left eye halfway through the penultimate round.

It cements Horn’s position among boxing’s elite and means he will now go toe-to-toe with Crawford, arguably the world’s top pound-for-pound boxer and the mandatory challenger to his WBO belt.

Arum’s Top Rank promotions have already booked the largest venue in Las Vegas, the T-Mobile Arena, for a date in April and Arum hinted an announcement would be imminent.

Crawford, 30, has moved up to the 66.68kg welterweight division after unifying the four light welterweight titles.

But it represents a climb of nearly 5.5kg in the space three years for the Nebraska native, who fought at lightweight as recently as 2014 and that, according to Arum, presents Horn with a sliver of an opportunity.

“Terence Crawford is one of the best fighters around,” Arum said.

“(But) anybody that says that because of Terence’s skill set that Jeff doesn’t have a chance is crazy.

“This is going to be a very, very competitive fight. As far as skill is concerned, I would favour Crawford.

“But as far as strength and size are concerned, you have to go with Jeff.”

Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton, who masterminded his famous victory over Manny Pacquiao, says it can be done.

“Crawford is beatable,” he said.

“He has weaknesses that we can exploit.

“He may be slapping around the lightweights and the super lightweights but the welterweights are bigger boys, they’re tougher.

“We must execute a plan with military precision if we’re going to beat him.”

Corcoran’s co-trainer Frank Greaves said Crawford was a “different animal” but one that Horn could potentially tame.

“The guy’s got sublime skills,” Greaves said.

“For me, Jeff is going to have to work on his outside game a hell of a lot more to get close enough to Crawford.

“Crawford is a very good fighter. The unknown in there, is Crawford a very good welterweight? That we don’t know.

“Genuinely, we wish him all the best. Jeff’s on that level.”