BoxRec

Bob Arum says Aussie Jeff Horn is just two fights away from a multimillion-dollar clash with Manny Pacquiao.

Arum will be ringside on Saturday night when world No. 2 Horn faces world No. 8 Ali Funeka in Auckland and says he can see Horn facing Pacquiao by the end of 2017.

At a press conference on Tuesday Arum said:

“Manny has told me that he wants two fights next year and we are looking at Jeff Horn for the second bout. If Jeff can win well on Saturday night I would then like him to face one of my former world champs, either Timothy Bradley or Jessie Vargas to build up the bout".

Sounds good to me. Who's on first?

The kid is good, evolved technically too much in last 3 fights (like 50% in general boxing abilities). Remember that Funeka was former WBC and IBO champion, he surely will be a tough opponent with a good chin, KO power and size, another good average test for Horn. After that a younger and equally tough opponent would be nice before trying Pacman, the rising Ponomarev would be great as well quoted Vargas too...

Vargas vs. Horn would make sense. Pacquiao vs. Horn, not so much.

Before Pacman, I think that at least 2 to 3 good opponents would be wiser. IMO Ponomarev then Vargas then a good puncher southpaw like Sammy Vasquez (or the tough Spence JR.) to then face Pacman, he needs much more experience with very good guys before trying to face Pacmyth.

Jeff Horn is a somewhat respectable welterweight. Arum says he'd match Horn against Bradley or Vargas to further build-up the Pacquiao fight. By that, I'm pretty sure he means he would 100% match Horn with Vargas, because Arum has to know that Horn can't beat Bradley. But if Horn beat Ali Funeka and Jessie Vargas in succession, his accomplishments would start to fall in the #6-8 spots of the division.

imaioral wrote:Remember that Funeka was former WBC and IBO champion

Also remember: he lost to Tsiko Mulovhedzi and Zolani Marali. He is currently the #64-ranked welterweight on boxrec. His best win in the last 5 years was Roman Belaev. Back in 2009, I considered him a pretty good lightweight, but he is not that guy anymore.

lol at Funeka having a good chin

So I guess we are going to continue to act like PBC welterweights don't exist?

Why not the winner of Thurman/Garcia?

Why do boxing fans keep settling for the 11th best available fight?

imaioral wrote:The kid is good, evolved technically too much in last 3 fights (like 50% in general boxing abilities). Remember that Funeka was former WBC and IBO champion, he surely will be a tough opponent with a good chin, KO power and size, another good average test for Horn. After that a younger and equally tough opponent would be nice before trying Pacman, the rising Ponomarev would be great as well quoted Vargas too...

If he was the WBC World Champion someone tell Duco because in the media he is being called the former IBO World Champ it looks better for Horn if he was former WBC World Champ not the other way around.

Funeka is a former IBO and WBF champion, is he not?

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:So I guess we are going to continue to act like PBC welterweights don't exist?

Why not the winner of Thurman/Garcia?

Why do boxing fans keep settling for the 11th best available fight?

We haven't been settling for anything. We have been criticizing this crap for a long time and the $$$ have been eroding in the sport. Suddenly we have quite a few good fights coming together.

Pure luck?

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:So I guess we are going to continue to act like PBC welterweights don't exist?

I mean, you're not new to boxing, so you probably know that Al Haymon won't work with other promoters. A single fight between a Haymon fighter and an Arum fighter is likely not to happen in any given calendar year.

Of course, Haymon isn't the only problem. Arum himself likes to keep his match-ups mostly in-house, sometimes cooperating with a few, select independently promoted fighters like Provodnikov and Algieri. So you usually come to expect an elaborate round robin between Pacquiao, Bradley, Marquez, Vargas, Rios, Provodnikov, Algieri, and Alvarado.

Wow Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn..Bet that does a lot of PPV Buy's

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:So I guess we are going to continue to act like PBC welterweights don't exist?

Why not the winner of Thurman/Garcia?

Why do boxing fans keep settling for the 11th best available fight?

I don't think there's a boxing fan on this forum who wouldn't like to see Pacquiao/Thurman. But you know that shit isn't going to happen. Unless PBC completely falls apart this year, Arum and Haymon aren't working together.

MachoTime wrote:Wow Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn..Bet that does a lot of PPV Buy's

Well... I certainly doubt that it would. BUT, it's not Pacquiao vs Horn right now. It's Pacquiao - Horn after Horn hypothetically beats Funeka and Vargas. Sometimes boxing fans have a hard time imagining what their opinion of a fighter would be after that fighter hypothetically wins some future matches. I think that if Horn beat both Funeka (kind of a trivial matter) and Vargas, he will have more legitimate name recognition and be taken a little more seriously as a legitimate #6-8 welterweight.

Well, I wonder what Arum thought of Jeff Horn's stoppage win over Funeka?

Lackeos wrote:

BAD INTENTIONS wrote:So I guess we are going to continue to act like PBC welterweights don't exist?

I mean, you're not new to boxing, so you probably know that Al Haymon won't work with other promoters. A single fight between a Haymon fighter and an Arum fighter is likely not to happen in any given calendar year.

Of course, Haymon isn't the only problem. Arum himself likes to keep his match-ups mostly in-house, sometimes cooperating with a few, select independently promoted fighters like Provodnikov and Algieri. So you usually come to expect an elaborate round robin between Pacquiao, Bradley, Marquez, Vargas, Rios, Provodnikov, Algieri, and Alvarado.

Well we know thats a load of crap because haymon has made at least 2 fights with other promoters in the last year alone.

If Pacquiao vs Horn was in Australia it would be huge, could sell out any arena and ppv sales would be in the millions.

Sids wrote:If Pacquiao vs Horn was in Australia it would be huge, could sell out any arena and ppv sales would be in the millions.

Cannot see a Pacquiao fight being held on Australian soil. But dreams are free, and if it did happen, Melbourne's 50,000 plus seat Etihad Stadium would be the venue and it would attract a very large crowd.

Jeff Horn is set to fight in the US next year after impressing Bob Arum in Auckland on Saturday night

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016 ... bound-horn

Influential promoter Bob Arum has hailed rising Australian star Jeff Horn as a tremendous talent and believes the former schoolteacher has what it takes to crack the US boxing market.

Arum watched from ringside as Horn produced a spectacular sixth-round stoppage of South African veteran Ali Funeka in Auckland on Saturday night, a victory that is set to propel the 28-year-old from Brisbane's to lofty new heights.

So impressed was Arum that he is ready to take welterweight Horn to New York, Las Vegas or Macau by March next year to face one of the fighters from his Top Rank stable, either Jessie Vargas or Timothy Bradley, in a match that could yield a dream date with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao in late 2017.

"He's a throwback fighter and he'll have tremendous appeal with boxing fans in the States," Arum said.

"He fought a real tough awkward guy and he looked really tremendous.

"The truth is that back in the States where a Pacquiao fight will have to happen, Jeff Horn is not well known; only boxing people know him.

"That fight (Vargas or Bradley) I would like to see happen in the first three months of the year so that if Horn is successful, we can build for a fight with Pacquiao late in the year, because Manny told me he was fighting twice in 2017 and then he will hang up his gloves."

imaioral wrote:Before Pacman, I think that at least 2 to 3 good opponents would be wiser. IMO Ponomarev then Vargas then a good puncher southpaw like Sammy Vasquez (or the tough Spence JR.) to then face Pacman, he needs much more experience with very good guys before trying to face Pacmyth.

So, in other words, get him a loss or two on his CV so he never gets the Manny fight....

davie wrote:

imaioral wrote:Before Pacman, I think that at least 2 to 3 good opponents would be wiser. IMO Ponomarev then Vargas then a good puncher southpaw like Sammy Vasquez (or the tough Spence JR.) to then face Pacman, he needs much more experience with very good guys before trying to face Pacmyth.

So, in other words, get him a loss or two on his CV so he never gets the Manny fight....

I understood the message, but it's not like that, if you read about what is to come and what mercenary Arum wants for the kid you won't say it since he want to put Jeff vs very much higher and technical fighters right now since he isn't as tall as them now, that's why he needs good boxers like him to test himself and learn big experience. Spence Jr. would be the toughest and in this particular case (of the boxers quoted) he has chance of both winning and losing, other boxers I think he can handle with certain difficulty and win in final.

Best regards'

I hope he doesn't fight Bradley, or we will get to see Pac vs Bradley again. No way Horn beats Bradley, imo.