Several fighters were under consideration for the first title defense of WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs).
Horn captured the WBO belt back in July with a stunned twelve round unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao before a crowd of 51,000 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Pacquiao initially exercised a rematch clause, but then withdrew from a planned November fight - citing scheduling conflicts with his work schedule as a senator back home in the Philippines. The conflicts would have prevented him from having a proper training camp.
When Pacquiao fell out of the fight, the search was on for a new opponent.
At the first, the fronterunner to land the bout with Horn was once-beaten Bradley Skeete (27-1, 12 KOs), who suffered a single decision loss to Frankie Gavin back in 2014. He's won nine contests since then.
A deal to finalized Horn vs. Skeete appared close.
But then Horn's promoter, Dean Lonergan, saw footage of Skeete in action - which prompted him to select Gary Corcoran.
After watching the Skeete fight, and having trouble staying awake, he knew an immediate change of opponent was needed.
"I said 'we can't do this to the Australian public - this is the most boring fighter in the planet'," Lonergan said. "The reason we went with Gary is that he fights an exciting go forward style.
"And Jeff had said 'bring whoever you want but we are in the entertainment business'."
Skeete and Corcoran are stablemates under promoter Frank Warren. In a recent interview with BoxingScene.com, Skeete explained that he was very disappointed with being passed over but wished Corcoran luck in the fight and hoped he would bring the WBO title back with him to the UK.
The fight with Corcoran was finalized for December 13th in Brisbane. The two boxers officially went face to face on Monday, during a kickoff press conference on Australian soil.
