By Keith Idec
Jeff Horn is headed toward one of the most difficult fights in boxing.
The welterweight champion from Australia will encounter an opponent next week that many experts consider the best boxer in the sport. Upsetting Terence Crawford will be extremely challenging, no matter who judges their scheduled 12-round fight for Horn’s WBO 147-pound championship.
Brisbane’s Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) also has traveled to the United States to defend his title against an American challenger, as Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) is from Omaha, Nebraska. Horn is comfortable with the judges, though, as he prepares for the second defense of a title he won from Manny Pacquiao last summer.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has assigned one Australian judge, Adam Height, to score the Horn-Crawford fight June 9 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+). Nevada’s Burt Clements and Italy’s Guido Cavalleri also have been assigned to judge Horn-Crawford.
Clements and Cavalleri originally were supposed to work the Horn-Crawford bout April 14 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. They were re-assigned to the bout once it was rescheduled for June 9.
Height, however, replaced another Australian, Ignatius Missailidis, after the bout was pushed back nearly two months due to Crawford’s hand injury.
Height has judged two of Horn’s 19 professional fights, both in Australia.
“This is what we always wanted,” Horn told news.com.au recently. “We have an Australian judge, an American judge and a judge from a neutral country. It makes for a level playing field and I can’t wait to get in there and defend my world title.”
When Horn scored a controversial unanimous-decision victory over the Philippines’ Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) on July 2 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, none of the three judges were from Australia. New York’s Waleska Roldan scored nine of the 12 rounds for Horn that night (117-111), while Argentina’s Ramon Cerdan and Arizona’s Chris Flores each scored seven rounds for Horn (115-113).
The NSAC also assigned Robert Byrd to referee Horn-Crawford. Tony Weeks would’ve officiated Horn-Crawford had it taken place April 14.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
