Horn to fight on despite advice

JEFF Horn has emerged from the worst thumping of his boxing career to declare he will fight on against the wishes of his family.

Three weeks after his shock loss to power-punching middleweight Michael Zerafa, Horn told the Townsville Bulletin yesterday he had unfinished business and would return to the ring before the year’s end.

“If Joe (wife) had her way there would be no more boxing,” Horn said. “But this is my decision.

“My mum and all my family say they’d be extremely happy and proud if I gave it away.

“I’ve already set up my family so it’s not about the money.

“I know how I want to finish and it wasn’t the way the fight ended against Zerafa.”

The 31-year-old father of two daughters has asked his promoter Dean Lonergan to look at all options for a fight before Christmas.

They include a rematch with Zerafa or a possible super fight against Tim Tszyu.

Importantly, Horn said his preparation will be more focused this time.

After the Zerafa loss, Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton told the media the former world champion had to “stop eating pizzas and drinking Coke”.

“I was frustrated with Glenn for bringing that up,” Horn said. “It wasn’t something that should have been broadcast publicly straight after the fight.

“But I admit I let myself down. I wasn’t training as hard or I wasn’t as hungry as I was before the (Manny) Pacquiao fight.”

Rushton regrets his postfight comments made as a bloodied and battered Horn was getting patched up in the dressing room

“My timing wasn’t right and I’ve apologised to Jeff,” Rushton said. “What I meant to say was that Jeff didn’t pay as much attention to his diet.

“Because he was going up to middleweight, he knew he could eat pretty much whatever he wanted. That doesn’t mean you should eat wrong foods. You’ve got to have good fuel in your body.”

The pair have also hit back at critics who claimed the fight should have been stopped earlier. Rushton came under attack for not throwing in the towel when Horn was clearly beaten in the ninth round and on the receiving end of furious punishment.

Even Horn’s brother at ringside tried to throw a shirt into the ring to stop the fight.

“I was extremely tired and he thought I’d had enough,” Horn said. “Zerafa was clipping me more and more in that round but I was OK.”

At ringside, boxing legend Jeff Fenech said: “The referee and the corner should be investigated and shouldn’t be allowed to be in the sport of boxing.”

Rushton defended his decision. “I care about Jeff Horn’s opinion but I couldn’t care less about what Jeff Fenech thinks,” he said.