With a fight against former undisputed 140-pound champion Terence Crawford coming up on June 9, Jeff Horn said he’s ready to face the pressures of fighting in Las Vegas.
During a conference call on June 5, Horn talked to Fightful about his fight against Crawford and how the WBO welterweight champion feels about fighting in a massive fight. Horn does have some experience fighting under a big crowd as his career-defining win over Manny Pacquiao last year drew in more than 50,000 people at SunCorp Stadium in Horn’s native country of Australia.
In the brief chat with Fightful, Horn said the 2017 fight against Pacquiao, which saw Horn score an upset decision win to capture the WBO welterweight title, prepared him for the pressures of fighting under the bright lights of Las Vegas.
“That fight in a packed house in SunCorp was massive for me mentally to fight in that situation. I don’t think it can get much bigger than that. The pressure of fighting in an outdoor stadium feel is massive. Now I’m fighting in a massive fight in Las Vegas inside with all those lights and it feels like any other fight,” Horn said.
A win over Crawford would surely catapult Horn to the near top of the welterweight division, but the win over Crawford will likely not be enough in some people’s eyes. In a division that features the likes of Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr. at least, Horn knows he is in a stacked weight class and said he would love to go fight any of the aforementioned boxers, who either currently hold welterweight titles (Thurman as the WBA champion and Spence as the IBF champion) or will not fight for a title (Garcia and Porter for the WBC title).
“Definitely [I would fight the other champions]. I’m not in this sport for a long time, I’m in it for a good time and [that includes] fighting the other champions out there. I have fought a lot of tough guys throughout my career and why not keep that going in fighting the other world champions that are out there in the moment,” Horn said.
Horn’s fight against Crawford will headline a Top Rank Boxing card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and be streamed to fans in the United States on the ESPN+ streaming service.
