Throughout the week we’ve been counting down Australia’s top current boxers in the lead up to Saturday’s big fight in Bendigo between Jeff Horn and Michael Zerafa.
We’ve already seen big names like Tim Tszyu, Alex Leapai, and Anthony Mundine.
So who makes the top 10?
Will a win on Saturday see Zerafa bolt up the list into the No.1 spot? Read the fill list below and tell us what you think in the comments.
10. LUKE JACKSON
Tough as nails. A long-time amateur star in Commonwealth Games and Olympic teams, the Hobart hard-head’s only loss in 19 fights was against Northern Irishman Carl Frampton in Belfast.
9. ROHAN MURDOCK
The No. 2 contender for the WBO super-middleweight title from the Gold Coast, he has won 22 consecutive fights. Tall, stylish and with an excellent kit of punches.
8. MICHAEL ZERAFA
Has 26 wins in 29 fights, the only defeats against top-shelf opposition. Fights Jeff Horn on the back of a KO over Gold Coast super-middleweight Les Sherrington and in December last year pushed Britain’s former world welterweight champ Kell brook through 12 hard rounds.
7. LIAM PARO
A super-slick southpaw from Mackay, he has won a world youth title and currently sits at No.2 in the WBO world light-welterweight rankings.
6. GEORGE KAMBOSOS
Long-time sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao, he is ranked the No. 3 lightweight in the world by the IBF and has won all 17 of his pro fights with big wins over Aussie rivals Qamil Balla and Brandon Ogilvie.
5. BLAKE CAPARELLO
A tall, rangy Melbourne southpaw he shocked the world when he scored a flash knockdown against Russia’s destructive world light-heavyweight champ Sergei Kovalev in 2014. That was one of Caparello’s only three losses in 34 fights.
4. JASON MOLONEY
From Kingscliff, northern NSW, he is the No. 3 contender for the world bantamweight title. He lost a highly controversial split decision for the IBF title in Florida last year.
3. ANDREW MOLONEY
The younger (by a minute) of brilliant boxing twins, he won a 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal and is now the No. 1 contender for the world super-flyweight title held by Britain’s Khalid Yafai.
2. DENNIS HOGAN
Irish-born junior-middleweight who has been in Brisbane for nine years and trains with Jeff Horn. He has had two cracks at the world title and gone the distance both times with an extremely high workrate. In his last bout he dropped a highly controversial majority decision against Mexican Jaime Munguia, with the American commentators believing Hogan deserved the title.
1.JEFF HORN
His upset victory over Manny Pacquiao at a packed Suncorp Stadium two years ago was a victory for the ages. Going in to his fight with Michael Zerafa in Bendigo, he is the No. 3 contender for the WBA middleweight title and has a December 23 appointment with world champ Ryota Murata if he beats Zerafa. Horn is tough, determined with awkward movement and power in both hands.
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