By Don Smith

It’s official, Australian welterweight Jeff Horn will fight boxing legend Manny Pacquiao on April 23rd and that’s all we actually know for now. Horn and his promoter (Duco Events) are championing for Suncorp Stadium (Brisbane, Australia) to be the venue; but at least six additional locations (2 in the Middle East) have been bandied about in the press. 

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum is on record as favoring Australia; but, that could mean a three city bidding confrontation between Melbourne, Sidney and Brisbane. Remember, in 2015, 56,000 packed Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium to watch Holly Mims defeat Rhonda Rousey in a clash of UFC female titans. Suncorp Stadium holds 52,500 according to our research while the facility in Sydney holds a mere 21,000 in comparison. Disregard Boxing Society’s posting of the event as set for Brisbane on 4/22 at Suncorp Stadium; why they listed the incorrect info is unfortunate. The online column is usually accurate-not this time! 

For the record, Horn is ranked # 2 welterweight in the world by the WBO. His amateur record includes reaching the quarterfinals in the 2012 London Olympics, a feat unattained by most American Olympic qualifiers in recent years and his professional record stands at 16 victories, 0 defeats with one draw. He avenged that draw verdict with Rivan Cesiire by knocking out the fighter from Cameroon in the 9th round of their WBO Oriental Welterweight Title contest on March 19th, 2014.

ABNN was eager to converse with the Australian underdog, so we dispatched a request to Craig Stanaway (Duco Events) and he was gracious enough to pass on our emailed questions to the 28 year old who will celebrate birthday # 29 on February 4th. W

ABNN: What would a win over Manny Pacquiao do for the sport of boxing in your homeland-would it knock the Brisbane Times coverage of Rugby and Tennis off the front page of the sports section?

JH: The announcement of the fight has already been the lead story in the sports section of the newspaper. Who knows how they woluld cover it if I won. I’m guessing it would be pretty big.

ABNN: Critics of your upcoming fight with Pac-Man say 17 professional fights (16-0-1) isn’t enough for you to earn the right to challenge a future Hall of fame boxer (59-6-2-38 knockouts)….what is your response to claims that your boxing resume is thin?

JH: I would say that I have fought and beaten 10 top 15 opponents in 17 professional fights and I’m unbeaten. From the moment I turned professional, the record proves I’ve never taken easy fights. I’ve also proven I can I can get knocked down, recover and win. Now this opportunity comes along, I would be foolish not to take it wouldn’t I?

ABNN: Will you maintain an aggressive straight ahead attack against Manny or we see more lateral movement from you during the contest…will we see any surprises?

JH: It will depend how I go. I know I can change the way I move if I need to. It just depends how the fight goes.

ABNN: Your government and your own team are pushing for the April 23 event to be held at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Will it happen there and what is the deadline for getting the venue selected?

JH: I really hope it will be there. It is a stadium I’ve walked past many times as a kid and It's iconic in Australia. I’m really hoping it will be there it would be amazing. Even Manny has said he wants to come so it would be a great occasion. There’s not a bad seat in the stadium.

ABNN: If the venue isn’t in Australia-will you be crushed?

JH: Sure I would be disappointed but I would have to move  on very quickly and re-focus on the job at hand.

ABNN: According to published reports, Top Rank Boxing (Manny’s Promoter) is already looking beyond 4/23 …does it show a bit of disrespect towards you…what is your take?

JH: Yes it does, but it doesn’t concern me. I’ve just got to make sure that I put on the best performance I can on April 23. My last opponent Ali Funeka talked about what he was going to do after he beat me and I told him it was a mistake. It proved to be the case and I knocked him out. That’s overconfidence. You’ve got to go into a fight feeling confident in yourself but you can’t be overconfident. Otherwise, you can embarrass yourself. I never look past my next fight.

ABNN: Other than confidence, what is in your boxing arsenal that will help you defeat Pacquiao and do you believe in the old boxing adage: “To defeat a champion, you have to knock him or her out to win their title”?

JH: I don’t believe you have to knock out a champion to win their title. You’ve just got to outbox them but I understand what you mean by taking the judges out of the equation. But no, you can a title without knocking the champion out.

ABNN: How do you rate Pacquiao’s power?

JH: Pretty good, he’s gone up and down so many weight divisions and still been able to knock people out. Now obviously he hasn’t knocked out people recently but none of us know why that is. Is he just happy to outbox them, did the opening not arrive, or has he lost some power? None of us know the answer to that question. You don’t go looking for a knockout so it’s hard to say if he’s lost power. He certainly knows how to fight!