Now that both promoters Top Rank and Duco Events have announced that both fighters have signed, it is official. Filipino ring legend Manny Pacquiao will fight little internationally known Jeff Horn in his native Australia. The fight will be titled “The Battle of Brisbane” and take place Sunday afternoon in Australia. This is July 2nd in Australia and a typical Saturday night prime time fight spot on July 1st in the United States due to the large time difference between the nations. The fight will be on PPV in Australia and a US television deal is to be determined.
Pacquiao/Horn is a fight no one was demanding, except apparently in Australia. An investment group including the government of Queensland (the state host city Brisbane is located in) sold Bob Arum on the deal with a large investment offer. It took Arum some time to sell Pacquiao on the deal as he flirted with an Amir Khan fight in the middle east instead, but that proved to be a fool’s gold offer backed by false money. With the Khan fight no longer an option, Pacquiao relented and has agreed to face Jeff Horn, an opponent Manny has publicly stated that he had never heard of prior to all of this.
I will write a more detailed piece on Jeff Horn later, but the short version is this: He is a promising prospect, one of the more likely ones in recent Australian boxing history to have potential to win a title. He also is likely no where near ready for Manny Pacquiao, even a faded 38 year old version. His best competition so far has been faded versions of Ali Funeka and Randall Bailey, both of whom he did stop but was also dropped by.
The fight is expected to generate major money in Australia, selling out a 55,000 seat stadium in the process. Pacquiao will reportedly do well financially here, but in terms of legacy and current standing, he is in a bit of a no win situation here. Lose, he looks terrible. Win by first round KO, the fight never should have been made. Conversely, Horn can’t go wrong here. If he gets blown out, it is a set back, but he didn’t have much international credibility anyway. Any sort of good performance, from being game in the face of a beating, to putting on a good performance in a loss, to actually scoring the upset, elevates his status to varying degrees.
