Reports say the upcoming April 14 clash between defending WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn and challenger Terence Crawford is to be moved – back to Las Vegas, where it was first set to be fought. The switch from New York, at Madison Square Garden, has not fazed Australian Horn, even though he says he would have liked to have boxed at the historic venue where so many great fighters have done their stuff.
Speaking with The Courier Mail, the unbeaten Horn said he would fight Crawford “on the moon or in a phone box if I had to.”
“Fighting at Madison Square Garden would have been a thrill because of all the great boxing history, but I can fight there at some other time,” Horn said upon hearing the news that the big fight is now headed back to Vegas (possibly at The Mandalay Bay). “I’ve got a long career in front of me. I’m concentrating on beating Terence Crawford anywhere we fight and I’m confident I can do the job. Winning is my focus, not the venue, but it’s a frustrating time because we still don’t know if it’s really locked in to Vegas or if there will be yet another change and we’re headed back to New York. I thought being world champion would be a lot easier than this.”
Horn added how he is not sure whether or not Crawford and his team are “playing games by getting the fight moved around.” As Horn stated, the fight is just eight weeks away. Bob Arum seems to feel the fight will go ahead in Vegas, and that Manny Pacquiao will return to action on the card – possibly against the tough but shop-worn Mike Alvarado.
Pacquiao’s return will of course attract plenty of attention (as will what Pacquiaio’s plans are for after his first fight back; with big fights against the Horn-Crawford winner and even Vasyl Lomacehnko still being talked about for later this year) – but the welterweight title fight is the big draw that night. Wherever it takes place. Horn says he is training hard and remaining focused. Still, it surely can’t be a good thing for the champion to see his fight moved around again and again.
