Horn v Mundine: Jeff Horn takes on younger brother in final sparring session
Jeff Horn punched his little brother Ben in the face on Thursday as hard as he could and then hit him again.
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Jeff Horn punched his little brother Ben in the face on Thursday as hard as he could and then hit him again.
Much to his delight Ben returned serve, hitting the former world welterweight champion in a ferocious assault.
There was not too much brotherly love at Horn’s Stretton Gym yesterday in their closed sparring session.
The two savage siblings went at each other for four hard rounds as Jeff finished his final sparring session ahead of next Friday’s River City Rumble against Anthony Mundine at Suncorp Stadium.
Horn did 12 rounds in total in preparation for the big fight, going to war with four more rounds against former Australian amateur champ Nathan Webber and four with the hard as nails Adrian Rodriguez.
But his heaviest punches were reserved for his younger brother as their sibling rivalry reached a new level.
Ben, 29, who had 16 amateur fights, will make his professional debut on the Horn-Mundine undercard against Townsville prospect Lachlan O’Shea.
Their father Jeff Sr says Ben has the talent to emulate his brother’s success and yesterday as the pair slugged away at trainer Glenn Rushton’s gym, Ben was treating the spar like his very own world title shot.
“They’ve been best mates and rivals ever since they were little kids,’’ Jeff Sr said.
“And Ben always lifts a gear when he spars with Jeff because he has a point to prove. He really wants to give boxing a good crack and he has been giving Jeff fantastic sparring for this fight.’’
When not hitting each other, the Horn brothers are best mates and as Jeff roared towards victory against Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium last year Ben was firing the rocket underneath him as the chief cornerman.
“Come on brother, this is what you’ve worked so hard for,’’ Ben shouted into Jeff’s face in the few desperate seconds between rounds as 51,000 people packed into the vast football stadium and 500 million watching around the world waited to see if Horn could cause an astonishing upset against one of history’s greatest champions.
Horn says he will always be grateful to his younger brother for helping him across the line.
But Ben has always had his brother’s back.
They grew up sharing a room together as Jeff Sr built their home at Pallara in Brisbane’s southwest.
For a while Jeff, Ben, their parents and sisters Rebecca and Bianca, all slept in one room as the house became a work in progress.
It made the siblings very close and Ben followed Jeff into boxing, becoming a Golden Gloves champion and the most determined of all the “Fighting Schoolteacher’s’’ sparring partners.
“It’s great that Ben will get this opportunity at Suncorp in his first fight,’’ Jeff said. “We’ve done a fair bit of sparring together and it’s always willing, no one wants their brother to get over the top of them. Ben has always wanted to fight and he’s loved boxing since he started.
“He’s a very strong fighter and comes forward.’’
Horn will have an open training session in the Brisbane CBD on Friday from noon to 1pm at Reddacliff Place, 266 George St near the Treasury Casino.
Mundine will have his open training session there on Monday.
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