Anthony Mundine could be slugged with more than $1 million in fines if he fails to make weight for his mooted showdown with Jeff Horn.
The fight, Horn’s first since losing his world title to Terence Crawford, is all but locked in for November 30 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and is expected to be officially confirmed in the coming days.
A verbal agreement has finally been reached between the two camps over the weight limit with heavy financial penalties to be imposed if Mundine balloons out on fight night.
After weeks of negotiations, a catchweight of 71kg has been settled upon.
Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton said that was already a major concession, considering his charge has never fought above welterweight (66.68kg) and Mundine’s last outing was at middleweight (72.57kg).
Both fighters will need to weigh in for a second time one hour before the fight and must come under 75kg.
If not, they will be fined $20,000 per 100g over the limit for the first 500g, then $50,000 for every 100g beyond that.
So if Mundine was to enter the ring at 77.5kg, for example, he would be fined $1.1 million.
“That’s a heck of an incentive to make weight on the night,” Rushton said.
“I could see this happening – we walk out there on the night, Jeff walks in at 70-71kg and Mundine walks in at 80kg.
“(We) can’t afford to be giving away eight, nine, even 10kg against a multiple world champion like Anthony Mundine.”
Rushton is hopeful the fight will be the first “stepping stone” for Horn as he aims to propel himself back into the world title picture after suffering his first career loss against Crawford in Las Vegas in June.
The grand plan is to lure Crawford to Suncorp for a rematch late next year.
But given Mundine is just about a spent force at 43 years old, Horn needs a commanding win to have any chance of that hugely ambitious dream becoming any sort of reality.
“If I want to get on top of the world stage again I need to beat Mundine well,” Horn said.
michael kingsbury
Guest
Horn will not get a rematch with Crawford if he wins this fight. Mundine is no longer relevant on the world stage. This is just a big fight here in Australia. Crawford is looking for that big fight with Errol Spence Jr or Keith Thurman. Crawford is more likely to fight smaller guys like Vasyl Lomanchenko or Mikey Garcia at a catchweight before he would fight Horn again. If Jeff Horn is serious about fighting the top guys at welterweight then he needs to get over to America and try and get fights with guys like Jessie Vargas or the winner of Shawn Porter vs Danny Garcia. This fight makes sense on a financial level because Mundine is a big name domestically and he always gets the crowds but it will do nothing to enhance Horns' reputation overseas or improve his ranking.
Gavin Rayner
Guest
Delusional
Gavin Rayner
Guest
Mundine a 3 time world champion. Are you kidding me? Other than some 10th rated interim title what world title did he ever come close to winning? What are farce, Good if you believe in the tooth fairy
branna
Guest
IBO has gone to the gutters as far as recognised titles are concerned but in the early 2000's it was actually quite recognised. High profile fighters like Klitschko and Golovkin have fought for it. His WBA belts are legit. If anything the WBA is the oldest and most recognised sanctioning body in the sport. His WBC silver title technically should have meant he was Floyd Mayweathers mandatory. He doesn't take corporate sponsorship and strictly only endorses his own brand. He's made over $40million and this fight against Horn is probably his biggest money fight. His mouth has earned him a lot of this money and has also made him unique - only Aussie athlete that speaks his mind and voices his belief regardless of what people are going to think of him
John
Guest
Don't be fooled Michael, Mundine is widely loved and respected that's why he's personally made 30million from his payperview sales, making him the 15th wealthiest boxer in the world (according to celebrity net worth). People aren't going to shell out 50 bucks to watch someone they hate. Who needs sponsors? Tyson never had sponsors. I agree the IBO belt he won from Geale is not a recognised world title, but Geale went on to win 2 proper belts after losing to Mundine. In fact Mundine has 5 wins against men who went on to win legitimate world titles, to put that in perspective Danny Green has none, Geale has one, Horn none. The other 2 world belts were WBA supermiddleweight and when Ottke retired in 2004, Mundine became the WBA's only champ, therefore genuine top shelf world champ. Ring magazine's (the bible of boxing) annual ratings have Mundine in the top 5 of his division for 6 years, this is the most of any Australian boxer in history, and this is achieved after a rugby league career that saw him represent Australia at schoolboy and under 19 level, play state of origin and be the highest paid player in the world's premier comp for years. No one has done what Mundine has done, reach the elite level in 2 different sports, years from now your grandkids will be taught about Anthony Mundine at school, and Michael you'll be telling them what a huge fan you were.
Michael Mace
Guest
Mundane ( Mundine)has a couple of Mickey Mouse titles,and his mouth has cost hi Millions, as sponsors wouldn’t touch him.I can remember Mundane (Mundine) fights in Melbourne without sponsorship. He could have had the majority of Australians in his corner but he’s ended up with a very low percentage of them.I feel sad for me.