Venues vie for big fight

SUNCORP Stadium is under siege as the venue for the Jeff Horn- Anthony Mundine bout in November, with interstate rivals entering the fight to rob Brisbane of the big event.

While Horn drew 51,000 people to see him beat Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp last year, Mundine is keen to fight in Sydney.

Horn’s manager Glenn Rushton says the venue will be decided by Government support.

“It’s quite simple. If the Queensland Government decides to back the fight as they did for the Pacquiao bout, it will be in Brisbane,’’ he said.

“If the support isn’t there, it could go to New South Wales or even South Australia.’’

Horn is training toward a tentative date of Saturday, November 17 as Mundine’s advisers Emaid Dib and Tristan Hay evaluate interstate venues.

Hay, who has a long association with the NSW State of Origin side, brokered the deal with Adelaide Oval for the Mundine- Danny Green rematch last year which drew a crowd of nearly 30,000.

The Mundine and Horn teams are close to reaching an agreement for the fight but Rushton is remaining firm over a 70kg weight limit.

Mundine had been pushing for a 71kg limit, saying he could no longer fight at the lighter weight, but Rushton says that detail is “non- negotiable’’.

“We have already conceded a lot to Anthony and his team,’’ Rushton said.

“We have agreed to a 50/ 50 split and to the fight being a copromotion, rather than our promoter Dean Lonergan staging the event alone.

“But we are not budging on the 70kg. Anthony agreed to that at the start of negotiations before changing his mind.

“We cannot afford to make a mistake with this fight. We are rebuilding Jeff towards becoming world champion again and we are not going to give Anthony the head start he wants.’’