Jeff Horn Set for Biggest Challenge of his Career Against Terence Crawford
6/5/2018
Boxer Jeff Horn will defend his WBO world welterweight title against one of the best pound-for-
pound fighters in the world on Saturday when he battles Terence “Bud” Crawford in Las Vegas
at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Anticipating the result, many fighters in the division will have their
eyes on the fight.
Horn (18-0-1) is on a 15-fight win streak and last defended his belt against Gary Corcoran,
winning via stoppage in the 11th round due to Corcoran’s bloody left eye. Corcoran didn’t
represent an overwhelming contender and the fight was in Horn’s native Australia, but a
successful title defense can only boost a fighter’s confidence nonetheless. However, Crawford
represents an entirely new challenge for Horn.
Crawford (32-0) began his world title run in Glasgow, Scotland by defeating Ricky Burns via
unanimous decision to claim the WBO world lightweight title in March 2014. He then defended
that belt twice, defeating Yuriorkis Gamboa and Raymundo Beltran later that year, and moved
up to 140 pounds with another successful title run on his mind.
Crawford beat Thomas Dulorme by TKO to claim the vacant WBO super lightweight title in April
2015 and defended the belt against Dierry Jean (October 2015) and Hank Lundy (February
2016), smashing both en route to TKO victories. He then faced Viktor Postol to unify the WBO
and WBC super lightweight belts in July 2016 and dominated the fight, winning by unanimous
decision. Crawford followed the precise performance over Postol with dominant defenses
against John Molina Jr. and Felix Diaz.
In his most recent fight last August, Crawford went for another huge win against Julius Indongo
that would completely unify the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles. The American once again
dominated, winning by knockout in the third round and leaving him no choice but to move up to
welterweight to challenge the 147-pound division’s elite. The 30-year-old from Omaha, Neb. will
attempt to put his stamp on boxing history by becoming a champion in three different weight
classes on Saturday.
Horn controversially won the WBO world welterweight title by defeating Hall of Famer Manny
Pacquiao last July. The 30-year-old Horn won the fight by unanimous decision at Suncorp
Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, and the ruling stunned many viewers. Crawford, however,
recently told BoxingScene.com that either fighter could have won the bout.
“I thought it could’ve went either way because Horn was winning a lot of the early rounds and he
finished the fight very strong,” Crawford said. “Pacquiao, in the ninth round, he could’ve finished
Jeff Horn, but he was tired just from being pushed around the whole fight. He didn’t have
enough in him to do it.
“So I think it could’ve went either way, but if I had to pick [a winner], I probably would’ve picked
– that’s kind of hard. Jeff Horn was kind of rough in there. I think he deserved the win, being that
he took the fight to Pacquiao and he just looked like he wanted it more.”
The fight against Crawford will be Horn’s first fight outside of Australia or New Zealand, so he’ll
have the added pressure of stepping outside of his comfort zone and fighting in the United
States.
Despite being an inch shorter than Horn, Crawford has a two-inch reach advantage on the
Australian. Many expect Horn to be the heavier fighter on fight day, which likely won’t pair well
with Crawford’s speed advantage. However, Horn is also expected to be the aggressor in the
fight, which is something Crawford could spend the first few rounds adjusting to.
The question for Horn will be: how much punishment can he absorb? For Crawford: how much
can he dish out in a physical battle?
The fight card will air live and stream on ESPN+ (subscription required).
