Horn’s strategy a big hit
JEFF Horn’s 96- second knockout of Anthony Mundine at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night came from a carefully rehearsed combination of punches that even stunned the winner with their ferocity.
For months Horn had been practising with trainer Glenn Rushton and fitness coach Dundee Kim sequences of punches designed to break through Mundine’s normally tight defence.
The plan was always to attack the body with ferocity from the opening bell, put Mundine on the back foot, make him drop his hands to protect his ribs and then fire a missile at his chin.
Horn had been practising drill after drill with the straight right hand to the body, left hook to the body and left hook to the chin and he executed the game plan to perfection.
“I had to get Mundine going backwards straight away and wreck his confidence as quick- ly as I could,’’ Horn said. “I had trained to break him down in a long fight but the KO came off perfectly much quicker than I could have hoped for.’’
Horn’s one- punch KO wasn’t the only stunning performance on the night.
In the main undercard fight, Pine Rivers PCYC fighter Liam Wilson boxed brilliantly to win the Australian super- featherweight title against previously unbeaten Toowoomba shearer Brent Rice.
Wilson, who fought at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games this year, has now won three professional fights and is likely to be a feature on future Horn undercards.
The pair were teammates in a Queensland side that travelled to Russia nine years ago.
Another big hit was Perth furniture removalist Francis Chua, who on three weeks’ notice, overpowered Kye MacKenzie, the No. 2 contender for the world lightweight title.
• Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury fought to a split draw, with Wilder retaining his WBC heavyweight title after knocking down his British challenger twice. Wilder ( 40- 0- 1) floored Fury ( 27- 0- 1) in the ninth and 12th rounds, yet Fury clearly outboxed Wilder for large portions of the remainder of their entertaining showdown.
Fury looked finished when Wilder put him flat on his back with two minutes left in the fight, but he rose.
Judge Robert Tapper scored the fight 114- 112 for Fury, while Alejandro Rochin favoured Wilder 115- 111. Judge Phil Edwards and the Associated Press both scored it a 113- 113 draw.