Horn upbeat virus won’t floor Townsville bout
BOXER Jeff Horn is confident his fight in Townsville will go ahead next month despite the spread of coronavirus stopping many sports events worldwide.
With the Rumble on the Reef between Horn and Tim Tszyu set to take place on April 22 in Townsville, the duo made the curious decision to fly to FNQ to help promote the fight yesterday afternoon at the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon.
Former WBO welterweight champion Horn and world rated junior middleweight Tszyu will clash in a 10-round bout at the new Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
But, with the NBA stopping their season yesterday and other sports taking major precautions to stop the coronavirus spread, there is some doubt the big fight will go ahead.
Horn is hopeful the fight at the new stadium, which is home to the NQ Cowboys and can hold 25,000 people, will not be affected.
“The coronavirus is definitely hot on our lips,” Horn said. “But, it has not spread probably too much to cancel some things, but even today there is some big events being cancelled. Time will tell what happens with it all.”
Queenslander Horn (20-2-1) avenged his defeat to Michael Zerafa with a thrilling win in December, while Sydneysider Tszyu (15-0-0) extended his perfect record with a fourth-round stoppage against Jack Brubaker two weeks earlier.
Tszyu wants to use the fight with Horn as a stepping stone to an overseas career.
“It is a great opportunity and the level I want to be at is overseas eventually, and to be fighting at home in Australia, it is an honour.”
It was a short stay in FNQ for the pair, flying in around midday before leaving in the middle of the afternoon for more commitments around the fight in Townsville.
Back in 2017, Horn made a similar NQ trip before his showdown against Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao.
Horn visited schools and local boxing clubs in Ingham, Cardwell, North Queensland Cowboys headquarters as well as Innisfail, Tully and schools such as Ingham’s Gilroy Santa Maria College.
Queensland’s best junior baseball players will be hoping clear skies to allow for the first games of the Queensland School Sports baseball championships to go ahead at Edmonton.
This is the first time both the under-14 and 14-18yrs state titles have been held at the same time at the same venue.
Finals are scheduled for Sunday.
Gaze on judges panel
Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze will head the panel of judges for the Larry Sengstock Medal awarded to the Most Valuable Player for the NBL Grand Final. The judges for this year’s Larry Sengstock Medal are: Gaze, Larry Sengstock, Cairns Taipans coach Mike Kelly, the current NBL coach of the year and winner of the Larry Sengstock Medal in
1996 (and the only person to have won both) and Dean Vickerman. Each judge will award 3-2-1 votes after each game in the series.
Karate kids get lift
FAR North karate kids will receive input from world champion practitioners just a week before the state titles in March. World-renowned coach Sensei Con Kassis is a regular visitor to Fudoshin Shitoryu Karate, and the member of the Karate Olympic Committee is set to bring Spanish duo Luis Mariasane, a former world champion, and sparring coach Antonio Oliver, to Cairns as part of a plan to attract international coaches to FNQ.