Beaten battler sizes up future
JEFF Horn’s future is unclear after losing his world title, but what is crystal is the fact he can’t keep taking the sort of punishment Terence Crawford dished out for nine rounds at the MGM Grand.
With his eyes nearly closed up and blood in his nose, Horn said he felt the fight had been stopped too early by referee Robert Byrd. So did his trainer Glenn Rushton and promoter Dean Lonergan.
They believe in Horn’s astounding grit, and Horn is too brave for his own good.
He came to Las Vegas a world champion, but leaves with 26 stitches and no belt.
This was not an early stoppage by any stretch.
The CompuBox the tale.
Horn only landed 58 punches, from a total of 257 thrown ( 23 per cent). Crawford landed 155 of 367 punches ( 42 per cent), an extraordinary ratio in a world title fight.
Even though Crawford was the smaller man, he was damaging.
“The power was there, I definitely didn’t want to get hit by him,” Horn said.
Talk quickly turned to the possibility of a rematch with Crawford in Australia, an event Horn’s team believes could rival his fight against Manny Pacquiao in front of 51,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium last year.
But on balance, Crawford would likely win that more comfortably than this fight.
Horn is courageous, has a granite jaw and some genuine skill, but Crawford is a level above.
Anyway, Top Rank is moving statistics tell him towards a showdown with rival Jose Benavides in October.
Anthony Mundine was touted as a big- money fight for Horn, who intends to return to the ring in November or December.
But Lonergan is against that fight, because he dislikes Mundine and sees more opportunities for Horn to make long- term money fighting other American stars in the welterweight division.
A Pacquiao rematch seems impossible because the Filipino refuses to fight in Australia again.
Lonergan mentioned welterweight stars like Adrien Broner, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter.
They’re all tough, dangerous opponents. Just how Horn likes it.
But he’ll need to make serious gains and adjustments because Crawford ( 33- 0, 24KO) used Horn ( 18- 1- 1, 12KO) for target practice.
“I just couldn’t get in my rhythm in the fight, I really wanted to press him forward, I was actually like I can just imagine what Jeff Fenech is saying right now, ‘ Stay on his chest, stay on his chest’. Oh, I just couldn’t get on him,” Horn said.
“His skills in boxing were very good. I definitely had more in me before that fight was stopped. I thought it was a little bit early, but ( Byrd) is just trying to look after me.
“( My wife) Joanna would have been extremely happy about it, even though I’m not ….
“I probably should’ve feinted more, just guarded and took one on the gloves and then got him, but you can only say that now.
“I should have worked harder in that fight, upset him more. I was frustrated in there. I definitely didn’t work things that I was meant to do in there.”