Lies and deceit: The explosive inside story on Jeff Horn’s family feud
They were once Team Hornet’s Holy Trinity. But Dundee Kim’s decision to work with Tim Tszyu has sparked a bitter fallout with Jeff Horn and his trainer Glenn Rushton and neither party is backing down.
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It is the strangest, most toxic – and saddest – family feud in Australian boxing.
Eight months ago, Jeff Horn‘s dynamic training duo, Glenn Rushton and Dundee Kim were arm in arm, joyous and fists cocked, after ‘The Hornet’ pulled off an epic comeback defeat of Michael Zerafa in their Brisbane slugfest.
Now Rushton and Kim are as far apart as the North and South Poles, with the usually mild-mannered Horn uneasily caught in the crosshairs of the collapse of Team Hornet’s Holy Trinity.
Like all unhappy endings, there are bitter claims, counter-claims, bizarre accusations, baseless allegations, disappointment and regrets over how a once happy union somehow ended in divorce.
Today, the three key players – Horn, Rushton and Dundee – open up about their shock bust-up as The Hornet prepares for his super welterweight showdown with Tim Tszyu in Townsville on Wednesday week.
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Horn remains gutted. He believes he was “stabbed in the back” by Kim after the Korea-born trainer, who quit the Horn camp in January, was captured by TV cameras doing a workout with Tszyu in his own gym seven weeks ago.
Rushton slammed Kim as “un-Australian” and a “blow-in”, claiming he used Horn by leveraging his profile as an Olympian to promote his Brisbane gym, Dundee‘s Boxing and Fitness.
Kim has lashed Rushton as a control freak, arguing he worked six years for free for Horn and even returned $30,000 the boxer had given him out of loyalty to The Hornet.
When Horn famously beat Manny Pacquiao three years ago at Suncorp Stadium, it was Kim who hoisted Australia’s new world champion to the heavens.
Horn, Rushton and Kim appeared unbreakable. Now, after 16 fights in Horn’s corner, Dundee’s heart is broken, hitting back at suggestions his one-off session with Tszyu is tantamount to boxing treason.
“To say I betrayed Jeff Horn and back-stabbed him is a disgrace to my name,” Kim said.
“For six years, I worked as a volunteer for Jeff.
“I don‘t wish anything bad for Jeff, but for him or Glenn to say I betrayed them breaks my heart. I never invited Tim Tszyu to my gym. I was training my boxer, Joel Camilleri, and he sparred against Tim.
“I suggested they train somewhere else because of my history with Jeff, but they still turned up to my gym to spar.
“I did a few rounds of conditioning on the day Tim was in my gym. I haven‘t contacted Tszyu and he hasn’t contacted me since.
“I never joined their team. I didn’t give away any secrets to Tim.”
Rushton has always been suspicious of Kim.
A former member of the Korean army, Kim joined Team Hornet in December 2013 after he read a story about Horn sparring with Anthony Mundine. Horn was seven fights into his pro career. Kim liked Horn’s clean-cut image and contacted him on Facebook, offering him a three-year sponsorship worth $9000 in total.
Horn accepted the deal. He began splitting his training between the gyms of Kim and Rushton, whom he joined 14 years ago seeking self-defence classes after being bullied as a kid.
“I liked that Jeff was a school teacher,” Kim said. “That’s what attracted me to Jeff.”
While Rushton was prepared to bring Kim into the Hornet’s nest for the greater good, more than 50 years of martial arts and boxing nous made him question Dundee’s motives.
“I always felt Dundee was using and abusing Jeff to build his business,” Rushton said.
“I smelt a rat.
“Jeff came to me as an 18-year-old bullied schoolkid. I said if you take up boxing, I will get you to the Olympics and make you a world champion and you will retire in your mid-30s as a wealthy man.
“Everything I said I would do for Jeff, I have done.
“We were a small team. We were rocking the world, then this Korean guy (Dundee Kim) muscles in. It was all a commercial exercise for him.
“It was such a low act for Dundee to do that session with Tim Tszyu. Is there anything more un-Australian than stabbing your mate in the back?
“Dundee always wanted to be seen as co-trainer for Jeff but he did nothing to deserve that. He was a blow-in.
“Jeff is such a nice guy that he wanted me to make it work with Dundee. I was friendly enough with him.
“But the truth is every fight for Jeff, I always write the complete program. I do all the analysis. Dundee did nothing. He is not a boxing trainer. He is a weight-loss guy.
“He rode the coat-tails of Jeff’s success.”
Dundee disputes suggestions he offered no tactical input. He claims it was his advice which inspired the brutal Horn punch that sent Zerafa reeling to the canvas in the ninth round and clinched victory.
“The punch Jeff used to put Zerafa on the canvas – the over-hand right – that is the technique I taught him,” Dundee said.
“I told him before that fight, when Zerafa comes in, hit him with the over-hand right. Ask Jeff, he will tell you the truth.
“I never used Jeff for my business. My business was making money before I joined Jeff. I did six years for him out of friendship and loyalty.”
Asked why he quit the Horn camp, Kim said: “Because Glenn wants all the glory. He always wants all the credit, instead of saying it was a team effort.
“Glenn’s personality is very controlling. If Glenn thinks I know nothing about boxing, why is he worried then?
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“It is very sad I didn’t stay with Jeff until he retired. But I said, ‘Jeff, if I stay any longer, it’s like a cancer’. It was too stressful. I never felt wanted by Glenn. He did not respect me, so I had to leave.”
Horn has not spoken to Kim since January. As he prepares to conquer Tszyu, Horn says Kim owes him an apology.
“Dundee is a nice guy and I do appreciate everything he did for me, but what he did working with Tszyu was a kick in the guts,” Horn said.
“When I first saw the image, I was disappointed. Shocked. It looked like he was showing Tim how I move and punch. I felt betrayed. I couldn’t believe he was working with my next opponent.
“The truth is Glenn and Dundee didn’t get on even at the best of times. He was jealous of Glenn.’’