Mundine verbal attack on Horn designed to stir up ‘The Hornet’
Related Story: 'I'm ready to eat him': Mundine grabs Horn by the jaw ahead of Brisbane bout Related Story: 'He's like watching paint dry': Mundine goes big on verbal barbs ahead of Horn bout
Former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn is the unbackable favourite to beat the ageing former champion Anthony "the Man" Mundine at Lang Park tonight.
Horn is 13 years younger than Mundine and has a record of 18 wins and only one loss.
Key points:
- Former world welterweight boxing champion Jeff Horn will face Anthony Mundine over 12 rounds at Lang Park
- The pair will be fighting for the WBA Oceania middleweight and the WBO Oriental middleweight titles
- Horn's career record is 18 wins and one loss, while Mundine has fought 56 times for 48 wins and eight losses
He suffered that defeat in his last fight against America's Terence Crawford who is arguably the best boxer in the world right now.
But don't count out the 43-year-old Mundine just yet, his boxing style and mind games could stir up "the Hornet's" plans of another world title.
Mundine may have physically attacked Horn at the official weigh in but a verbal tirade has been aimed at the former school teacher all week.
"This kid ain't gonna beat me," Mundine said.
"I'm gonna back him up, I'm gonna back him up and beat his arse up, that's what I'm gonna do.
"I might bull rush him, I might bull rush him, they talk about him being a bull, let's bang heads."
So far Horn has kept his cool.
"I think it might be a strategy for him to get in my head for the fight, ruffle my feathers a little bit to try and put me off my game," Horn said.
"When I say I'm not on edge I didn't have to stress about weigh in so the fight hype and all the and all the jittery nerves I get close to the fight will probably happen [on the day of the fight].
"At the moment I'm pretty calm and I know I've got to have a good sleep and a good rest and then come fight night."
Horn says under-weight Mundine wasting his energy
Mundine last fought at 72 kilograms but easily made weight for the 71kg catchweight fight against Horn, coming in at 70.25kg compared to the Brisbane fighter's 70.55kg.
Horn believes Mundine's plan of coming in so far under the weight could be a mistake and will sap him of energy during the fight.
"I think it's silly, I wouldn't do it if I was fighting at welterweight, I wouldn't be coming in at 66 kilos I'd come in as close to the 66.7 limit," Horn said.
"He was 500 grams under, that's a lot of weight to lose unnecessarily."
But there's no doubt that the pressure is on Horn, who has a lot more to lose in this fight than Mundine.
A victory would allow him to have another crack at making a name for himself in the United States.
Decisions ahead for Horn
Horn will also need to decide what weight he'll fight at from this point onwards.
If he stays at welterweight (66.7kg) he could face the likes of the Errol Spence 24-0 (21 KO's), Keith Thurman 28-0-0-1 (22 KO's) Shawn Porter 29-2-1 (17 KO's) or a rematch with Terence Crawford 34-0 (25 KO's) or Manny Pacquiao 60-7-2 (39 KO's).
He could also move up to super welterweight (69.9kg) which is littered with undefeated champions like Jermell Charlo 31-0 (15 KO's) and Jarrett Hurd 22-0 (15 KO's).
Horn may even make the jump to middleweight (72.6 kg) where he could take on the likes of WBA and WBC middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alverez.
"We're looking forward now," Horn's trainer Glenn Rushton said.
"We're on the road to another world title and there's someone standing in the roadway and that person's Anthony Mundine.
"He's in our way, and he has to go, we have to win this fight, it's an important fight for Jeff to win and we have every intention of winning this fight.
Mundine has also left the door open to fight again despite boasting a career that spans almost two decades (48-8-0) that began when he was a 25-year-old rugby league star.
"If I get a big offer that's like a Pacquiao or I get somebody massive [that could change things]," Mundine said.
"I've got the runs on the board, like the Mosleys, Geales, Greens and now Horn the current crop this could lead to another massive fight but I'll only fight again if it's a massive stage and massive money."
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