Pacquiao v Horn: Loudest cheers from Horn’s proud family

Jeff Horn’s pregnant wife cheered louder than anyone at Suncorp Stadium yesterday.

Jeff Horn sits with wife Jo in a quiet moment after the fight. Picture: Peter Wallis.

Jeff Horn’s pregnant wife cheered louder than anyone at Suncorp Stadium yesterday, his mother pumped her fists towards the heavens, and his dad couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

And grandfather Ray Horn’s misty hazel eyes glazed over with a mix of pride and joy as he declared seeing Horn win the World Boxing Organisation welterweight title from Manny Pacquiao as one of the best days of his long life.

Horn’s ailing “Pop” is 89, and battling the flu and the weight of years. There were grave fears he would be too crook to be ringside for yesterday’s fight.

But, just like his grandson, he fought back and finally made it, slumped in a chair next to me right behind Horn’s blue corner.

He had the hood of a Jeff Horn souvenir tracksuit pulled over his bare scalp to protect it from the savage Brisbane sun.

He’s almost blind, and pretty deaf. But Ray broke into a huge grin when he heard the challenger’s theme song Seven Nation Army pumping from the loudspeakers, knowing that “young Jeff’’ would soon be starring in Australia’s biggest ever fight.

Marching to history, Horn stopped briefly on his way to the ring, to touch fists with the old man whose dream was to see his grandson win the world title.

“Seeing Jeff become world champ is the thing that’s kept me going these last few years,” Ray said. “He’s always been such a lovely young bloke and I’ve always wished the very best for him. Nothing will top what he did today.”

After the fight, Ray was embraced by Queensland Sports Minister Kate Jones, who had tears in her eyes after Horn’s emotional triumph.

On Saturday night, Pacquiao had led a Bible class in Brisbane where he had prayed for Horn’s safety as he has done for all his opponents in recent years.

Pacquiao should have been more worried about his own safety as Horn showed that he was a much more dangerous opponent that Pacquiao expected.

The Filipino’s camp had often derided Brisbane’s Fighting Schoolteacher, saying Pacquiao could knock him out at any time. But Horn refused to buckle and at the end of the bloodbath Australia had a new sporting hero.

“I’m just overcome,” said his mother Liza Dykstra, who recalled having to wrap her arms around her son many times after bullies attacked him at school.

“I’m so proud. I know how hard he has worked for this. It’s hard to believe this is the same boy who was picked on at school.”

Horn’s father, Jeff Sr, said: “This has been a remarkable journey and it just shows what anyone can achieve with determination and a plan.”

After the war was over, Horn’s wife, Jo, expecting their first child, sat with him quietly in a small dressingroom as Horn’s eye was being stitched.

Eleven years ago she fell in love with a shy, introverted and bookish teenager at MacGregor High in Brisbane’s south.

He was a bit of a nerd then, she recalls. But yesterday Jo saw her husband beat-up one of the greatest boxers of all time in front of 51,025 people at Suncorp Stadium and a TV audience of close to a billion people in one of Australia’s greatest ever sporting events.

“He’s still a bit of a nerd, but now Jeffrey’s the world champion,” she said.