Pacquiao v Horn: Switch to take Suncorp Stadium global

Rugby league’s most celebrated stadium is about to become the centre of the boxing universe.

Sketches showing the boxing ring layout at Suncorp Stadium for the Jeff Horn v Manny Pacquiao title fight.

Rugby league’s most celebrated stadium is about to become the centre of the boxing universe. Within hours of fulltime in Melbourne’s game against Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium last night, the goalposts were taken down and the line markings were being ­removed.

Matting was laid to protect the turf, which only hours earlier had been strode by Queensland State of Origin colossi Cameron Smith and Matt Gillett. Rugby league will take a back seat to boxing for the remainder of the weekend as Jeff Horn, a boxer who once dreamt of playing for the Broncos, tries to upset WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

Brisbane and its stadium are about to have a global presence.

“We have done a lot of planning because we have a fairly compressed time frame,” Suncorp Stadium general manager Allan Graham said. “Based on the all the scheduling we have done we are feeling fairly comfortable. The plan is that we are aiming to have everything finished by about 10pm (tonight).

“It’s a big task but it’s the sort of thing we do fairly regularly. We had a fairly compressed time frame for Justin Bieber earlier in the year because of an event prior, in fact, the shortest one I think that has ever been done in Australia.

“That went along pretty well. This should be a little less infrastructure because the Bieber concert was a much larger stage, quite a big construction, big towers for the speakers. That has proved it can be done.”

It needs to be. The fight will be beamed into more than 100 countries including the US, where it will screen on ESPN as part of a long-range deal struck between the sporting network and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.

Arum believes the deal can change the face of the sport across the globe. Horn will be at the forefront of that, as will the ground as it hosts more than 50,000 people.

“This fight, believe me, is going to go down in history,” Arum said.

“It is the first of a series of fights that are going to be shown over the US and around the world. A series that will change boxing.

“When history is written, ­people will say it started here in Brisbane on July 2.”

The fanaticism of Pacquiao’s supporters has prompted officials to step up security. Backpacks will be banned, as will any bags that are deemed too big by security staff.