Glenn Rushton, trainer for WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs), believes his fighter will once again upset the long odds in the coming weeks.

On June 9th, Horn will travel to the United States to make a mandatory defense against Terence Crawford at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. 

Last July, Horn pulled off a major upset when he secured a twelve round unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. The win gave him the WBO world title.

Crawford is a massive favorite to unseat Horn for the belt - but Rushton explains that they have trained extremely hard to shake things up.

He says Horn is "20 percent better" in this camp than he was for the win over Pacquiao.

“When I look at Jeff between rounds, it’s almost like I’m looking at myself,’’ Rushton said to the Courier Mail.

“It’s a spirit thing – we really do connect on that deep personal level, so if I say to Jeff that I really need him to dig deep in a fight like he did in the ninth round against Manny Pacquiao last year, I know he’ll give me everything he’s got.

“We haven’t trained for a fight against Terence Crawford, we have trained for war. We are going to America to knock Crawford out. We have to unbalance him physically and mentally and Jeff is ready to do that."

Rushton has a lot of respect for Crawford, but explains that Horn has already beaten someone of a higher standing in July 2017.

“Crawford is a brilliant boxer,’’ Rushton said.

“He has all the skills. He can switch stances. He’s equally effective going forward or backward, and he has laser-like precision with his punches. But at the end of the day he is just a man and in Jeff Horn, he is up against a boxer who last year beat a legend.

“Jeff has got the self-belief, the boxing skills, a heart as big a Suncorp Stadium and a granite chin. You put them all together and Terence Crawford is facing a pretty potent package.’’