Jeff Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton predicted how the Aussie boxer would beat Manny Pacquiao 24 hours before the fight.

Pacquiao looked disinterested in the lead-up and admits taking Horn lightly after sensationally losing to the Aussie boxer.

Trainer Freddie Roach and advisor Michael Koncz did all his talking for him at the start of the week.

They clearly took a dismissive attitude towards Horn and Rushton, laughing off their challenge for the WBO welterweight title and egging Pacquiao on to seek an early knockout win.

In front of a packed hometown crowd at Suncorp Stadium, Horn punched his ticket to boxing’s big time with a gusty performance to win Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight championship.

Pacquiao said he accepted the judges’ decision and didn’t take Horn as seriously as he should have.

“I didn’t expect (he would be) that tough,” he said.

Pacquiao’s Aussie trainer and former heavyweight boxer Justin Fortune also admitted they underestimated the 29-year-old local hope.

“He fought better than we ever thought he would,” Fortune said.

“Jeff fought 100 times better than he’ll ever fight again. The kid’s got a lot of heart, a lot of balls. We’ll see where he goes from there.

“We knew he would fight nothing like we ever saw him on video, because 50,000 people, it’s your home, you’ll fight.”

But Fortune made it clear he did not agree with the result.

“The referee was sketchy, the judges were crazy,” Fortune told reporters.

“Manny lost the fight, but Jeff Horn looks like a pumpkin. Those scores, that card? It should be the other way around.

“You can make as many excuses as you’d like – it was a sh*tty referee, sh*tty judging. But that’s boxing.

“You get given a gift sometimes, you get screwed sometimes. But when you come to someone’s house you’re supposed to mess them up… never leave it in the judge’s hands.”

www.boxingscene.com/fortune-horn-fought-better-we-ever-thought-he–118183

 

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Michael Koncz, the long-time adviser to eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao, agrees with the opinion of Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum – who felt Pacquiao’s corner was overconfident and unprepared for last weekend’s world title defense against 2012 Australian Olympian Jeff Horn.

Pacquiao’s head trainer, Freddie Roach, and other members of the corner, admit they very surprised with the toughness and the durability of Horn. Prior to the contest, they were giving Horn zero chance of wining.

Horn upset the odds, winning a twelve round unanimous decision to capture Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title before a crowd of over 51,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. The three judges were in agreement, scoring the contest 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111 for Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs).

The veteran promoter believes the entire corner dropped the ball in what was a very winnable fight for the eight division world champion. And Arum says the entire corner should be on point here – including head trainer Freddie Roach, assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez, conditioning coach Justin Fortune and cut man Miguel Diaz.

“What the hell is wrong with that corner? Why wasn’t Freddie Roach out in the ring between rounds yelling at the referee? It’s his job, and there’s confusion in the corner with the languages, with Buboy and Miguel Diaz yelling and screaming like a maniac,” said Arum to The Los Angeles Times.

“And Freddie has to stay close to Manny to give him some advice … to me, they were so overconfident going in — Justin Fortune tells the press that the only way Horn can win is if Manny trips going into the ring. I had seen the kid. I told everybody he was a big, tough kid who could take a punch. I didn’t think he’d beat Manny, but it wasn’t the same Manny.”

Koncz, also felt the corner was lacking.

“The corner didn’t have a strategy. They were all amazed Jeff Horn was such a tough, rugged fighter and they didn’t adapt to it. There’s a lot of blame to go around, but the bottom line is the kid had a lot of heart and came to win and did everything he could to get it, and the referee let him do more than he should have,” Koncz said.

“If we go back to Australia, I’ll be more involved with the promotion and the selection of the judges and referee. I relied heavily on the WBO. Everybody can be blamed for everything for this. If we do have a rematch, there’s got to be a lot of changes. We’re not sure he’s ever going to fight again. I told Manny before the fight that if things didn’t happen, we would sit down and make decisions on what we need to do.”

www.boxingscene.com/koncz-backs-arum-pacquiao-corner-strategy–118194?print_friendly=1

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BRISBANE, Australia — Manny Pacquiao attended church and had a light training session in Brisbane on Sunday after arriving late Saturday for his July 1 world title fight against Australian Jeff Horn.

The 38-year-old Pacquiao was accompanied by trainer Freddie Roach, conditioning coach Justin Fortune, sparring partner George Kambosos Jr. and other members of his entourage, which his spokesman said totaled about 160.

“Training is good. We did a lot of hard work. I am very excited for the fans to give a good show to show my best and in boxing ring,” Pacquiao told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “Some reports coming out of the Philippines that I haven’t been training hard are not true. It just happens that when some of our friends came around to our training camp, we weren’t doing much and people assumed I wasn’t training hard.”

Roach, who has trained such world champions as Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Wladimir Klitschko, said Pacquiao intends to keep his world title.

 

“He has the best work ethic in the world. He trains hard every day, and we do 48 boxing rounds every day, nonstop — just work, work, work,” Roach said. “We are here to win the fight. We don’t take anyone lightly.”

Pacquiao, who now is a Philippines senator, has a career record of 59-6-2 with 38 knockouts. The fight against Horn will be Pacquiao’s first defense of the title he won in November with a unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas.

The 29-year-old Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) is a 2012 Olympian.

The fight is expected to attract a sellout crowd of about 50,000 at the outdoor Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. It is scheduled for early afternoon next Sunday, which will be Saturday evening in the United States. The fight card will air live on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.

  

www.boxingscene.com/photos-manny-pacquiao-grinding-hard-brisbane-horn–117950?print_friendly=1

 

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