Australian warrior and former WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn says Manny Pacquiao does not want to fight him a second time, because the Filipino superstar “knows how hard it’s going to be the second time, he wants nothing to do with it.” As such, Horn, 19-1-1(13) tells ESPN.com how he is aiming to land a massive fight up at middleweight.
Horn, who lost his WBO 147 strap to Terence Crawford in his second defence, moved up to 160 pounds for a big-in-Australia showdown with veteran former champ Anthony Mundine, and “The Hornet” stung Mundine badly, halting him inside the very first round. Now Horn wants Canelo, or Golovkin – or both.
“The biggest challenge and the biggest payday would be Canelo Alvarez,” Horn told ESPN. “Everyone knows he’s very strong. A very, very good boxer. I’d probably choose him or GGG. They are the two biggest names right now in boxing and they are two scalps I’d really like to get under my belt. I’d fight them. I’ve got that awkward style people keep talking about where they don’t know when I’m coming. They don’t know when I’m punching. I think I would do very well against [Canelo’s] style.”
Horn certainly did well against Pacquiao; far better than anyone felt he would ahead of the fight of a couple of years ago. Despite having to navigate his way out of a torrid ninth-round, Horn gave Pac Man plenty of problems and he won his share of rounds. To this day, a good number of people question the decision that went against Pacquiao – yet Horn has made it clear, he is more than willing to fight Manny again to prove his win was no fluke. But Pacquiao has zero interest (and may be heading to a July fight with Keith Thurman); so Horn is looking even bigger.
Both Canelo and Golovkin fight on DAZN now, and though they both have an upcoming assignment, and though fans crave seeing a third fight between the two, who knows, maybe next year Horn will get what he wants, and a crack at one of the two stars.
Horn shocked us all when he beat Pacquiao; could he shock us even more with a win over Canelo or GGG? A cynic might say that Golovkin could have chosen to fight Horn next instead of the man he is actually facing in his DAZN debut of June 8th.
