‘This is not Queensbury Rules’: Jeff Horn urged to sacrifice sportsmanship for victory
JEFF Horn threw an incredible 2000 punches in his first full training session in Las Vegas but a leading trainer believes the Aussies must sacrifice sportsmanship to win because punches alone won’t be enough.
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IN searing 40 degree Nevada heat, Jeff Horn finally found an air-conditioned gym to hold his first full training session since arriving here, and threw an astonishing 2000 punches in an hour.
Signalling his intentions to swarm rival Terence Crawford with endless shots in their WBO welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand this weekend, Horn showcased his supreme fitness and output on Saturday afternoon local time.
Having been forced to hold light training sessions at the dilapidated Top Rank Gym since arriving last week - it was described as a stifling tin shed in the desert - Horn’s camp found modern comforts of a gym run by Kevin Barry, the trainer of former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker, on the outskirts of Vegas in a dentist’s warehouse.
Horn did 12 hard rounds on the heavy bag, averaging an impressive 130 punches per round, more than 1500 in total.
He then did six rounds on pads and noodle sticks with trainers Glenn Rushton and Dundee Kim.
While he won’t be able to throw as many punches against the slick, wily, undefeated Crawford on Sunday (AEST), if Horn is getting near 100 punches per round he will go a long way to defending his title in what would be a huge upset.
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“I loved what I saw today on the bag,” said Barry, an interested observer to the session. “A lot of head movement, a lot of hand movement, very fast foot movement and that’s very, very important for Jeff in a fight like this.
“He’s got to be unorthodox, he has to show him some angles he’s never seen before. And when he does close the distance, he’s got to be a mongrel.
“He’s got to hit him in the hip, he’s got to hit him in the arse. He’s got to put a glove up in his face.
“You have to do everything you can to win the fight. This is not Queensbury Rules. This is win. Jeff is the champion. He’s defending his world title against a very good fighter that is undefeated and he has to bring the beast out, he has to bring the dog out, he has to bring the mongrel out.
“Glenn rang me up and said ‘I’m down at Top Rank gym and it’s not my favourite place in Vegas’. I told him I’ve got a private facility and you’re welcome to come and have a look. It’s got air conditioning and it’s nice and clean. Glenn said ‘thank God’.”
Rushton was not pleased with the gym run by Top Rank, promoters of Crawford and co-promoter of Horn for this fight.
“The other venue, while Top Rank and staff have been very, very helpful to us, the venue itself - tin shed, hot roof, we’re talking tomorrow 107 degrees [fahrenheit], it’s been in the 90s since we’ve been here, when you come off a very long fight, you’re suffering from jet lag, it’s doubly oppressive.
“We have been there the last three days but it’s been a little bit of a struggle trying to get back to where we were.”
Horn won the title against Manny Pacquiao last year in Brisbane but most Americans feel he was given a home town decision, which Barry blamed on the live commentary of former ESPN Boxing analyst Teddy Atlas.
“We all know the damage Teddy Atlas did in the commentary of the Pacquiao fight, he was very, very unprofessional towards Jeff,” Barry said.
“Because of that, a lot of Americans had a bad taste towards Jeff. When you actually look at the fight, Jeff won all the early rounds.
“Pacquiao had a mindset that he’s so experience and so powerful, I can beat this guy whenever I want. He wanted to take him out later in the fight but he couldn’t get the job done. The simple story in that fight was Manny gave away far too many early rounds and Jeff won the fight.
“A lot of American fans listened to Teddy Atlas and thought Jeff got a gift. It’s not the truth. Teddy Atlas lost his job at ESPN. Jeff is still holding the world title belt.”
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