Mundine risk for Horn
THE greatest combination in Australian boxing history has warned Jeff Horn that he must bring his very best into the ring against Anthony Mundine or face disaster in their mooted November superfight.
Horn and his wife were this week taking in the beauty of Canada’s Lake Louise on a three- week holiday but master coach Johnny Lewis and his three- time world champ Jeff Fenech are warning him of the dangers Mundine presents.
The former NRL star, who became a world boxing champion at 76kg, is promising one final hurrah in the fight game before retiring aged 43.
The Horn- Mundine will be at 70kg.
Mundine’s team is already preparing to hire Horn’s British opponent Gary Corcorcan as a sparring partner and promising that “The Man” will have the best preparation of his life leading into what could be the biggest all- Australian bout of all time.
Horn, 30, is coming fight off a ninth- round stoppage loss that saw American Terence Crawford take his WBO welterweight title ( 66.7kg) in Las Vegas on June 9.
Fenech said: “That performance was a long way short of Jeff Horn’s best and Anthony’s confidence will be high after watching it.
“Anthony is still very fast and if Jeff isn’t 100 per cent ready for a tough fight he could really be in trouble.
“You have to remember that Anthony is physically a lot bigger. He’s beaten big, strong guys like Danny Green and would have a pretty big size advantage over Horn even if they weigh about the same on fight night.”
Lewis, who trained six world champions including Fenech and Kostya Tszyu, said: “When Anthony’s confidence is up he is a very dangerous guy; very fast and with a lot of power.
“That right hand of his is electric and I think that he really believes he has Jeff Horn’s measure.
“He would have watched Terence Crawford picking Jeff off at range and we all know that Jeff fights with his hands dangerously low.
“If Anthony starts sniping Jeff from long range and gets that hand speed going he will be very hard to beat.
“I suspect that this is the last throw of the dice for Anthony and that win, lose or draw he will throw everything he has into beating Jeff Horn.”
Fenech said success in boxing – as Horn had in beating Manny Pacquiao before more than 51,000 fans at Suncorp last year – could be a twoedged sword.
“Maybe psychologically Jeff has taken the foot of the gas now,” Fenech said.
“Anthony says he is going to have the very best preparation ever and that he’s a renewed fighter after having hip surgery,
“I know that Anthony will really be fired up for the fight.
“It’s his big chance to score a win over a huge name and leave boxing with a victory that fight fans will remember forever.”