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By Keith Idec
Perhaps Jeff Horn’s only advantage over Manny Pacquiao – his size – was on display Friday night.
The 5-feet-9 Horn weighed in at 147 pounds for the biggest fight of his career, a welterweight title shot at Pacquiao on Sunday afternoon in Horn’s hometown of Brisbane, Australia. The 5-feet-6 Pacquiao weighed in at 146 pounds, one beneath the welterweight limit of 147.
The weigh-in took place on Saturday morning local time at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. A crowd that could exceed 60,000 is expected to attend the Pacquiao-Horn fight at Suncorp Stadium.
Despite that he is 38 years old, Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) is listed by Las Vegas and Internet sports books as slightly more than a 6-1 favorite over the unknown Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs). Though undefeated, the 29-year-old Horn hasn’t beaten a welterweight contender in his prime since he turned pro in March 2013 and will take a steep step up in competition when he faces the Filipino legend in a 12-round fight for Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight championship.
ESPN will televise the Pacquiao-Horn fight live Saturday night in the United States. The four-fight telecast is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
This marks Pacquiao’s first fight that hasn’t been televised via pay-per-view since the powerful southpaw stopped Mexico’s Hector Velazquez in September 2005.
Pacquiao defeated Las Vegas’ Jessie Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision in his last fight, a 12-rounder November 5 at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Horn, the No. 1 challenger for Pacquiao’s title, came back from a third-round knockdown to stop South Africa’s Ali Funeka (39-6-3, 31 KOs) in the sixth round of his last bout, December 10 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
