Horn hints at quitting

Major pay day could signal end

BOXING: Make $5 million and walk away.

Jeff Horn has revealed he could quit boxing by next year if he can earn the figure he believes will set him up for life.

“Someone told me not long ago, ‘You really don’t want to be doing this for too long’, and I don’t want to be doing it for too long. I’ve already been doing it for 10 years,” Horn said.

“They told me you need $5 million to retire basically for life. After this fight, I’ll possibly be getting that type of money in my next fight so if I can win this one, it won’t be far off before I can say ‘I can hang them up if I want to’.

“I don’t want to be one of the silly ones that hangs around until they’re 40 years old and fighting.”

Asked directly if he would consider walking away by the end of this year, 30-year-old Horn replied: “No, not yet. It’s a potential, it all depends how the body is coping and how I feel in myself.

“I don’t want to get to the stage where I do start noticing things deteriorating and think I should’ve given it up after the last fight, ‘I’ve been hit here and now I’ve lost something I could’ve had for the rest of my life’.

“I definitely don’t want to stick in it for very long, so enjoy it while I’m here.”

Horn defends his WBO welterweight title against Terence Crawford at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this weekend, a fight that will earn him around $2 million.

Should he win, Horn would command a figure close to $5 million for his next fight.

If he loses, Horn could still potentially earn up to $5 million with three fights by the end of 2019.

With less than 20 professional fights to his name – Horn is 18-0-1 with 12 knockouts – retirement next year would be a huge shock.

But Horn’s fighting style also takes a toll. Being aggressive and coming forward has meant he absorbs more punishment than many of his peers.

Horn is aware of the struggle most boxers go through to hang up the gloves.

“Being in Vegas, being in this fight hype type of environment where it’s all building up to this extreme moment where you’re about to fight someone in a ring where you can’t run away, it’s that moment your body loves the adrenaline rush,” he said.

“That’s what past fighters miss, I haven’t experienced that yet because I haven’t stopped, but maybe in the future if I do stop I might get that itch again and want to come back.

“Hopefully I don’t have to, and I can just be happy with myself doing whatever it is I’m doing after boxing.”