WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) is planning to take control early, and then never let up in his mandatory fight against Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs).
The fight was scheduled for April 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
But last week the contest was postponed to a later date, after it was revealed that Crawford suffered a hand injury in sparring.
Horn's trainer, Glenn Rushton, believes the strategy they need to be successful in the fight - is to bring the fight to Crawford in the first round - and then control every round thereafter.
“The most dangerous thing about Crawford is that like Jeff he’s so changeable,’’ Rushton said to The Courier Mail.
“He’ll be very elusive but once he tags you he goes in for the kill and becomes super aggressive. Jeff can’t let Crawford land a big shot early because Crawford is an expert at seizing the moment and he becomes a monster. He has a 78 percent KO record so he knows how to put his opponents away.’’
At the same time, Rushton believes Crawford is going to be in for a big shock when he steps in the ring with Horn.
The bout is now potentially going to land on either May 19 or a date in June.
Rushton believes Crawford's arsenal of knockouts have come against fighters who are much smaller than him - which won't be the case against Horn.
Rushton said Crawford will be shocked by Horn’s power and physical strength when they get in the ring.
“I remember seeing that wry smile on Manny Pacquiao’s face after the first round against Jeff as if to say ‘Boy, this is going to be much tougher than I thought’,’’ Rushton said.
“It’s going to be a blistering fight and we fully intend to shock the world just as Jeff did in beating Pacquiao. Crawford has been knocking out lightweights and super lightweights throughout his career but Jeff is a much bigger guy at welterweight than anyone Crawford has fought. Our plan is to win the first round and every round until the fight ends. We can’t let Crawford get in front and make us play catch-up.’’
