Jeff Fenech fears Jeff Horn could be a victim of boxing’s ruthless politics

IT’S no secret fight promoter Bob Arum – the most powerful man in world boxing for 50 years - wants Terence Crawford to beat Jeff Horn, writes Grantlee Kieza.

AUSTRALIA’S most successful fighter Jeff Fenech has appealed for the judges of Sunday’s Jeff Horn-Terence Crawford fight to give the Aussie hero “a fair shake’’ after Horn called himself a “pawn’’ in a ruthless game of boxing politics.

It’s no secret that fight promoter Bob Arum – the most powerful man in world boxing for 50 years - wants Crawford to beat Horn as he has the American tied to a long-term deal while Horn becomes a free agent after the bout at the MGM Grand Casino.

Australia’s greatest boxing Jeff Fenech with Jeff Horn. Picture: Darren England

Not long before Horn’s monumental victory over Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium last year I had dinner with Arum, Horn, and Horn’s promoter Dean Lonergan at a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne.

While the dinner was convivial enough and Arum regaled tales of his time promoting the likes of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, Horn knows that Arum was carefully plotting the best way to exploit his talent.

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Horn had to sign a three-fight deal with Arum to secure his world title winning fight with Manny Pacquiao. To be given a title shot against the 11-time world champ in Brisbane, Horn had to sign options allowing Arum to promote his first two title defences if he won. The first defence was against Englishman Gary Corcoran in December. The second and last comes against Crawford on Sunday.

On Monday, Horn said Arum needed a ruthless streak to be at the top of boxing for half a century and he knew that everything for the fight was being put in Crawford’s favour - the home promoter, the home crowd, the home venue and the treatment of Horn as the challenger rather than champion. He even receives second billing on the advertising for the “Crawford-Horn’’ fight.

Jeff Fenech reacts angrily after his controversial bout against Azumah Nelson in 1991.

“I feel like I am a pawn, sometimes, of this game,” Horn said.

“I feel like they kind of sense that they’ve almost got a checkmate.

“But I can see it coming.

Fenech, who was denied a fourth world championship in a controversial Vegas decision against Azumah Nelson in 1991, said he hoped the judges remembered that there was just “a blue corner and a red corner’’ rather than an “American against an Australian’’.

“Jeff Horn can win the fight – one billion per cent - so long as he gets a fair shake,’’ Fenech said.

“I would hate to see another situation like Fenech-Nelson in Vegas. That was heartbreaking.’’

The referee for the fight will be Robert Byrd from Las Vegas.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has assigned one Australian judge, Adam Height, to score the fight alongside Nevada’s Burt Clements and Italy’s Guido Cavalleri.

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