By Adrian Warren
Rising Australian boxing star Jeff Horn is intent on making up for lost time, with his trainer eyeing a top five ranking by the end of the year.
Queenslander Horn (9-0-1, 7 KOs) fights Ghana's Richmond Djarbeng (19-2-1, 15 KOs) for three regional welterweight titles in Palmerston North, New Zealand on Saturday evening.
The Australian, who is ranked 15th by the WBA, four places below his opponent, scaled 66.30 kgs and Djarbeng 65.45 at Friday's weigh in for their regional triple title bout.
A broken hand has temporarily stalled Horn's progress, the six-month break being the longest hiatus of his professional career.
Horn's trainer Glenn Rushton remains determined to cram in a handful of fights before year's end.
"The intention is to be very active, we want to catch up some lost time," Rushton said on Friday.
"We'd like to have four of five fights this year and push hard for that top five position."
A top ten ranked opponent is already being lined up for Horn's next scheduled appearance in Invercargill in August.
"There is no one now we would not fight but of course we have to earn the right," Rushton said.
Not that Rushton and Horne are looking past Djarbeng, who is something of a mystery man to the Australians despite his ranking.
" We've never seen a photo of him, we've never seen any footage of him fighting," Rushton said.
"He hasn't lost for over eight years and he's won 19 straight, he's got a 68 per cent KO record.
"You obviously have to respect a fighter with that sort of record.
Horn will concede a round five centimetres in height to his African opponent.
"Obviously he's capable and he's a puncher, so what we're expecting is a guy who comes forward and throws hard punches."
Horne's enforced layoff wasn't totally a bad thing according to his trainer.
"In some ways whilst we didn't want the break, we've taken advantage of it," Rushton said.
"We've put a slower preparation into Jeff and laid a more solid foundation and conditioned his hands better which is something we obviously had to address," Rushton said.
Horn fights in the main preliminary bout of a sold out promotion featuring unbeaten rising New Zealand heavyweight star Joseph Parker.
The 23-year-old Parker (13-0, 11 KOs) takes on Germany's Yakup Saglam (34-3, 31 KOs).