Jeff Horn ultimately aiming to take on Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
Just hours after smashing Anthony Mundine out of Australian boxing, Jeff Horn is now chasing America’s World Boxing Council welterweight champion Shawn Porter for a beach bash at Surfers Paradise.
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Just hours after smashing Anthony Mundine out of Australian boxing, Jeff Horn is now chasing America’s World Boxing Council welterweight champion Shawn Porter for a beach bash at Surfers Paradise in April.
Porter is the top candidate from several high profile international stars in the firing line for a boxing extravaganza in a specially constructed arena on the sand at the end of Cavill Avenue.
As revealed exclusively in The Courier-Mail last week, Horn’s promoter Dean Lonergan and manager Glenn Rushton have bold plans to erect a 7000-seat three-sided temporary arena at Surfers Paradise in a bid to sell Queensland to the Asian tourist market.
They intend to have Japanese and Chinese fighters on the undercard to ensure the telecast is sold in those countries.
Lonergan has managed to secure more than $6 million from the Queensland Government to support Horn fights over the last 18 months and is confident the Government will back his next tourist-friendly venture.
Horn said he was ready to fight anyone.
``I’m thrilled with the win over Mundine and I’m ready for the next challenge’’ Horn said yesterday as he took a break from morning tea at South Bank with his wife, mum and baby daughter Isabelle.
The boxer who five years ago was happy earning $350 a shift three days a week as a relief school teacher, earned more than $20,000 a second against Mundine at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, winning by a knockout in 96 seconds for a purse of more than $2 million.
``The win was a lot easier than I expected,’’ Horn said. ``I certainly thought I would be in there for more than 96 seconds. I expected a few hard rounds but we had trained to be aggressive from the outset and to put enormous pressure on Mundine from the opening bell.
THE LEGACY: FOR BETTER OR WORSE, MUNDINE MADE YOU CARE
``He tried to use the shoulder roll defence against me to protect his chin but we had trained to break through that by attacking the body and then bringing the left up to his chin and it worked perfectly.
``I was pleased with the quick end. Everyone wants to have an early mark from work. I’m glad I’ve got no injuries or bruises and that’s rare for a fight. Even when you win you still usually get hit.
``Last night I felt really good fighting at a heavier weight. The main goal now is to bring those big American fighters, those top overseas fighters, to Australia.’’
Lonergan said while the ultimate goal for Horn was a fight with the world’s biggest earning boxer Canelo Alvarez, Horn still needed to win more big fights and more titles before the great Mexican would even consider the bout.
``At the moment Shawn Porter is our preferred option but that would mean Jeff dropping back from 71kg which he was last night to 66.7kg at welterweight. But there are 70kg world champs out there such as Jamie Munguia who we are considering.
``We have to fight big names to get a crowd. You get 30,000 for Anthony Mundine, 51,000 for Manny Pacquiao but we only got 8000 when Jeff defended his world title against Gary Corcoran last year. You need big names to pull a crowd but Jeff Horn is one of the most popular sportsmen in Australia and his win over Mundine will only make him even more popular.’’
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Originally published as Jeff Horn ultimately aiming to take on Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
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