BOXING
W
hen you look at how
far he’s come, it’s easy
to forget that, just a few
years ago, Jeff Horn
was a humble PE teacher dabbling in
boxing – albeit showing great promise.
A supersonic rise through the ranks
saw him topple some of the best in
the world – including Manny Pacquiao
in 2017 to claim the WBO welterweight
title – before a loss last year to American
Terence Crawford in his first US fight
ended his dream run.
Having redeemed himself thanks to
a killer first-round KO on Anthony Mundine
last November, Horn returns to the ring
refreshed this month.
Not even the sleepless nights taking
care of baby number two – daughter
Charlotte, born on June 20 – will derail
his preparation for the showdown with
fellow Aussie Michael Zerafa at Bendigo
Stadium on August 31.
Foxtel magazine catches up with the
new dad to get his fighting words.
You’re back in the ring this month,
fighting Michael Zerafa. Tell us about
that pairing...
Michael is quite credible. He’s had some
big fights in his career – he’s fought Kell
Brook – and he has a ranking as well.
He’s definitely up there with some of the
best in Australia. It’ll be a good fight.
He’s not as big a name as some of your
recent opponents – like Manny Pacquiao
or Anthony Mundine. Will you approach
this fight any differently?
It will be the same game plan, same
training in the lead-up. I have a little
less time to get ready for this one, so
it’s a pretty sped-up training camp for
me, but I’ll be doing all the same things
I normally do. I guess it’s a challenge to
get myself in better nick faster, but it’s
exciting that I don’t have to go through
as much of a training camp, even though
it’s just as hard.
Coming off your first loss last year, how
confident are you going into this bout?
I’m very confident. I don’t think I’ve lost
against an Australian fighter yet. I’ve only
lost against Crawford, who’s American,
so I’m excited to get back in there – it’s
been a while.
Did your confidence take a hit after that
loss or did you get over it pretty quickly
after wiping the floor with Mundine?
Yeah, look, it was a very hard loss, but
I knew that it was going to be a difficult
fight. And he was a unified champion of
the division below, so it was never going
to be an easy feat. But I bounced back
well because I got the big win against
Mundine, which was a first-round KO, so
that sparked the confidence a little more.
Physically and mentally, are you at the
top of your game right now?
Yes, definitely. I’ve fought on the biggest
stages that you can fight on, so I don’t
feel like the pressure is on me; I feel like
the pressure is on him to try to take the
mantle from me – but I’m going to make
it very difficult for him. I feel like my
strength is pretty much at its peak.
Zerafa’s nickname is ‘Pretty Boy’ – will
they still be calling him that after you’re
finished with him?!
[Laughs] Yeah, maybe not! Depends how
long the fight goes for, I guess, whether or
not we can still call him Pretty Boy by the
end of it, but it might not be a pretty fight.
You’ve long talked about retiring at 35.
Is that still the game plan?
Yes. I’ve been solid on that and I’ll stay
solid on that. I won’t fight past 35. Once
I hit that, I’ll be hanging up the gloves.
What more do you still want to achieve?
I want to be a multiple weight division world
champion, and if I can get a middleweight
or a super middleweight world title shot
and get that, that would be absolutely
fantastic. This is a step closer to that.
You’re 31 now. Are you confident of
accomplishing that in the time left?
Yeah, I think so. It will go very quickly
- especially with two kids. I think I’ll
have a few fights a year in the lead-up
to that and the aim is to get another
world title fight, fight the big fights, like
with the Canelo Álvarezes of the world,
and try to etch myself into the history
books even more.
Kostya Tszyu’s son Tim is also fighting
this month and he’s made it clear he’s
eager to take you on...
Look it’s a potential fight in the future. Tim
has a reasonable name in boxing already,
because he has Tszyu as his last name;
his father’s an absolute legend of the
sport and he’s done absolutely massive
things, so it’ll be interesting to see how
good Tim is. But he still hasn’t fought the
calibre of fights that he needs to fight [to
take me on]. I’ve fought world champions
and unified world champions, and he
hasn’t done anything like that yet.^
On the eve of his bout with Michael Zerafa, new dad
“I WON’T
TURN THE PAGE FOR MORE ON
TIM TSZYU vs DWIGHT RITCHIEWORDS:CAROLYNHIBLEN.^ P
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SEE^PAGE^189JEFF HORN vs MICHAEL ZERAFA
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Proud dad Jeff with his
gorgeous daughters,
Isabelle (left) and
baby Charlotte