WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs), and his handlers, have been steaming since the announcement that mandatory challenger Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) withdrew from their scheduled date with a hand injury.
The fight was postponed on Wednesday, with the bout scheduled for an April 14th date at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Crawford's promoter, Top Rank chief Bob Arum, said it wasn't a major injury and would only sideline him for two weeks but it required the fight to be rescheduled.
The bout is now likely to take place in May or early June.
Crawford, 30, had been installed as the mandatory challenger to Horn's WBO welterweight championship belt and was preparing to step up to the 147-pound division for the first time.
Horn, also 30, has never fought outside Australia or New Zealand before.
Horn's promoter, Dean Lonergan, a long-time forward for the New Zealand rugby league team, was annoyed with Crawford's withdrawal and said to Courier Mail:
“It just goes to show you that these Yanks are nowhere near as tough as they make out. The one good thing is that it means a lot more Queenslanders will now be able to go to the fight in Vegas as the Commonwealth Games will be over," Lonergan said.
“Terence will get a slapping but it will come a few weeks later than we thought.’’
And Horn's head trainer, Glenn Rushton, threw in a few more digs of his own.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that a slight hand injury would stop a multimillion-dollar production,’’ Rushton said.
“If it was us in the same position I know that Jeff would definitely fight. At the moment he is flying and we were so ready for April 15.
“For Terence to stall the fight like this is really soft. You look at the great Queensland rugby league players and what they go through. Some of them have played with broken arms or with cuts on their heads that were stapled together at half time.’’
