Horn: I’m ready for Pacquiao rematch

By Boxingnews24.com

By Chris Williams: Jeff Horn says he’s ready to give Manny Pacquiao a rematch if he’s ready to come back to Australia for a second fight. Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) is ready and willing to fight the 38-year-old Pacquiao as soon as possible. A second victory for Horn over Pacquiao could make him a star in boxing, and send the Filipino senator into a likely retirement.

If Horn can make the win more convincing than the first fight, it would be a big bonus for him. He would have shown the fans that he’s superior fighter to Pacquiao.

“I am ready for a rematch. If he wants to come back and do it again, we will do it. That’s up to him, he’s got the option,” Horn said to AFP.

Jeff Horn’s trainer wants Floyd Mayweather Jr. if Pacquiao decides he doesn’t want to take the rematch.

Horn should start thinking about a good Plan-B option for his next fight, seeing that Pacquiao might decide it’s better for him to move on with the controversy about his loss. Pacquiao retire and still feel good about himself, in that a lot of boxing fans think he should have had his hand raised last Saturday. If Pacquiao fights Horn again, he might get beaten to the point where there’s no doubt who the better fighter is.

Pacquiao was very gracious at the end of the fight with Horn. He was accepting the of the judges decision to give Horn the win. Pacquiao said he wanted to fight Horn in an immediate rematch. Days later, Pacquiao seemed to have changed his mind about fighting Horn again, saying that he wants to “Thank hard” about whether to take the rematch or not. Pacquiao requested that the World Boxing Organization review the decision in what appeared to be a move to have the fight results overturned. The WBO made it clear that they won’t be overturning Horn’s loss. They said there’s a rematch clause in the contract, and Pacquiao can fight Horn again if he chooses.

Horn’s eagerness for a second fight against Pacquiao might scare the Filipino star off. Horn should play it cool and let Pacquiao lick his wounds and think about whether it would be worth the trouble of fighting the younger, bigger and more powerful Horn a second time. Pacquiao doesn’t have the size or the power to knockout Horn, so he would be looking at another grueling fight just like the first one.

Pacquiao will need to think hard before he makes the decision to fight Horn again, because it could end badly for “Pacman” if he’s unable to improve on his performance from last time. Horn didn’t take much punishment from Pacquiao. Other than a cut eye, Horn came out of the fight with Pacquiao looking fresh, and powerful.

At the end of the fight, Horn looked like he could go another 5 rounds at least, He had the appearance of someone that could fight an old fashioned 15 round fight without any problems. In contrast, Pacquiao was tired looking, worn out and beat up. His face was cut, swollen and badly bruised.

“I love boxing and I don’t wanna see it dying because of unfair decision and officiating,” Pacquiao said.

Horn doesn’t believe the comments that Pacquiao has made since their fight last Saturday about him wanting the WBO to review the results were really from him. Pacquiao lost by a 12 round unanimous decision. He accepted the defeat at first, but he’s recently questioned the results from the 3 judges the worked the fight. Pacquiao has also made remarks about the job referee Mark Nelson did in controlling the rough manner in which Horn was fighting.

Pacquiao has not said whether he’ll fight on with his boxing career. He’s considering his options right now. There’s a chance that Pacquiao won’t take a second fight against Horn. It was a tough fight.

“I don’t actually believe that would be Pacquiao actually even saying that himself,”said Horn via Channel Nine.

It’s interesting that Horn chooses not to believe that Pacquiao is upset about his loss. Based on the comments being attributed to Pacquiao since his loss to Horn, I think those are legitimate remarks from Pacquiao and not coming from other sources. Pacquiao isn’t about his defeat, and he’s not happy with the judging and the job the referee did in working his fight with Horn.

“The referee wasn’t competent [and] I felt I was set up,” Pacquiao said via Yahoo News. “It was horrible,” said Pacquiao about the judging for the fight.

When Pacquiao was asked who set him up, he said, ”Let’s not get into that.”

The comments weren’t the best for a fighter that works also as a senator in the Philippines. Pacquiao would have been better off saying positive things about the results of the fight. It always looks better when a defeated fighter chooses to stay positive and not complain about their loss. When you start complaining like Pacquiao is, it just looks like sour grapes.

“Maybe it is his team around him. But Pacquiao seemed very humble in the way that he lost and thought the decision was correct,” said Horn.

I hope Horn doesn’t think any less of Pacquiao now that he’s hearing him complain about his loss. It’s not the first time Pacquiao complained after a defeat. Pacquiao wasn’t happy after he lost to Tim Bradley in 2012, and he definitely wasn’t a happy camper after Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated him in 2015. Anyway, it’s not important whether Pacquiao is saying good or bad things about his fight with Horn. What’s important is whether he’s going to exercise his rematch clause to fight Horn a second time.

There’s a lot of green stuff that Horn can get in a rematch with Pacquiao. Horn might not be the A-side in a rematch with Pacquiao, but he’ll get bigger cut of the cash than he did in the first fight. Pacquiao got the lion’s share of the loot last Saturday in taking home $10 million. Horn received just $500,000. In a rematch, Horn will obviously get considerably more than in the first fight.

If Pacquiao doesn’t want to fight again, then Horn’s promoters Top Rank and Duco Events will need to look around for someone that can draw fans in both the U.S and in Australia. A predictable opponent from Top Rank would be Terence Crawford. However, I don’t think he’s a big name in Australia and he’s definitely not a huge star in the U.S. Horn mentioned wanting to fight Errol Spence Jr. and Keith Thurman.

”Now we got to look at the other guys that are up there as well, which is Keith Thurman and Errol Spence. Those are the two targets on the hit list,” said Horn.

I can’t see Top Rank boss Bob Arum agreeing to let Horn fight Spence or Thurman. That would be an uncharacteristic move on the 86-year-old Arum’s part if he were to make a fight of that type. I don’t see either of those two guys getting a fight against Horn ever. They’re not with Top Rank. If Horn is going to get beaten by someone, I see Arum choosing one of his Top Rank stable fighters like Crawford, Tim Bradley or Jessie Vargas. Crawford would be the logical choice because his value would be boosted more than Vargas or Bradley. Those two have already been exposed in losses to Pacquiao. I don’t think they would get much more popular for beating Horn. Crawford would to some extent, and he’s probably go another 5 to 10 years left as a top fighter before he’s over-the-hill.