If he could pull it off, it would almost certainly go down as a bigger upset than the one he scored in July of this year in dethroning defending WBO welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao – and Jeff Horn says he “knows” he can do it: beat pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford.
As per Australia’s Grantlee Kieza’s weekly boxing blog via The Courier Mail, Horn says he is “very keen to fight Terence Crawford.” The unbeaten Horn faces Britain’s Gary Corcoran on December 13 in Brisbane, but “The Hornet” is looking at a massive fight with unbeaten two-weight king Crawford; who has recently moved up to 147.
“At the moment with all the events and promotions I have to attend everything is flying by so fast it’s like the weeks have become days,” Horn said. “It’s more than four months since I beat Manny Pacquiao but it feels like yesterday. I’m very keen to fight Terence Crawford. They’ve made him the top contender for my title and he has a great record but I know I ca beat him like I beat Pacquiao. We’ll just have to see about the timing of the fight and when it happens.”
Horn, who recently saw the release of his autobiography, is “super-excited about becoming a dad,” his wife due to give birth in the new year. Horn wants to take some time off, quite understandably, and get back to boxing training in February. Assuming he beats Corcoran (and Horn is a big favourite to do so), Horn against Crawford could happen next spring some time.
It’s likely Horn would enter a fight with Crawford as a significant underdog, even if not quite as big an underdog as he was when he fought Pac Man, but Horn is not a fighter to underestimate in any way. Crawford, 32-0(23) has said before now how he would be willing to travel to Australia to challenge Horn, but this fight could happen in the US instead.
Crawford is of course a fantastic fighter, and he cleaned up the 140 pound division before making the decision to move up. Crawford has said he will become the undisputed star of the welterweight division and phase-one could be picking up Horn’s WBO belt. But, as fans know, things don’t always go to plan in this sport. Still, it would be one pretty big stunner if Horn were to take Crawford’s unbeaten record.