Horn v Pacquiao fight confirmed

Jeff Horn has announced he will fight Manny Pacquiao on April 23 in the biggest fight in Australian history.

Australian welterweight boxer Jeff Horn has confirmed he will fight Manny Pacquiao. Picture: DAVE HUNT

BOXING: Jeff Horn has announced he will fight Manny Pacquiao on April 23 in the biggest fight in Australian history.

Following talks in Las Vegas between Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum and Horn's backer Dean Lonergan, Horn confirmed the fight would happen at a press conference at Brisbane's riverside Regatta Hotel yesterday.

Horn's preferred venue is Brisbane's 50,000-seat Suncorp Stadium but Lonergan said the fight would go to wherever it made "the most commercial sense”.

While Pacquiao's team has warned Horn that his dream fight will quickly become a nightmare, Brisbane's "Fighting Schoolteacher” says the 38-year-old Filipino great has slipped 10% from the first time he saw him fight Oscar De La Hoya in 2008.

Horn will start a huge underdog in the fight and says his best chance of victory is to catch Pacquiao leaping in.

Pacquiao, who won the WBO welterweight title with a points decision over Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas in November, has not scored a knockout win since 2009 and has lost three of his last eight fights.

He was knocked cold in six rounds by Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.

"I've fought all over the world as an amateur and I've had a lot of fights against some top fighters as an amateur and pro,” Horn said.

"I've only had 17 fights and Pacquiao has had 67 but I think I've got the skills to win.

"It's my time. I'm getting Pacquiao at the right moment.

"I know I have the power to hurt him.

"If I land a clean shot on Pacquiao when he's coming forward I know I could hurt him.

"That's what I'm hoping for to catch him as he rushes in.”

Horn, 28, is unbeaten in 17 fights. Pacquiao has 59 wins, six losses and two draws.

His 2015 loss against Floyd Mayweather was the most lucrative fight in history, generating $600 million.