BRISBANE, Australia — Former world welterweight champion Jeff Horn says he would relish an opportunity to fight Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez and prove to everyone he is no one-fight-wonder.
Horn (19-1-1, 13 KOs), 31, famously defeated Manny Pacquiao in 2017 to become top dog in the welterweight division, but it didn’t last long with American superstar Terence Crawford taking the belt off him nine months later after a one-sided fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
More recently, Horn stepped up to middleweight class and floored Australian icon Anthony Mundine inside the first two minutes of their much hyped Brisbane bout, and now he has his eyes on something much greater.
“The biggest challenge and the biggest pay day out there would be Canelo Alvarez,” Horn told ESPN when asked what his dream scenario would be. “Everyone knows he’s very strong. A very, very good boxer.
“I’d probably choose him or GGG [Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin]. They are the two biggest names right now in boxing and they are two scalps I’d really like to get under my belt. I’d fight them.”
Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) is currently ESPN’s top ranked middleweight with his only career loss coming against the undefeated and now retired Floyd Mayweather. In December, Alvarez stopped Rocky Fielding in New York City and he returns to the ring in May to fight Daniel Jacobs.
Horn, who was given little chance of scoring a decision over Pacquiao, says his unique style of fighting would hold him in good stead against Alvarez.
“I’ve got that awkward style people keep talking about where they don’t know when I’m coming. They don’t know when I’m punching,” Horn said. “I think I would do very well against [Alvarez’s] style.”
Horn had been slated to fight Japanese middleweight Ryoto Murata in Tokyo early this year — a bout rumoured to be worth around AU$2 million for the Australian — but when the date was pushed back to July, he pulled out in order to ensure he was able to be at the birth of his second child.
This has left Horn without a scheduled fight and while he would relish the chance of going up against Alvarez, he still hasn’t given up on a re-match with Pacquiao in order to silence his critics once and for all.
“We were happy to take the re-match and prove it once again,” Horn told ESPN. “That’s the reason I would want to do it again or else why would I do it again? I wouldn’t want to lose against him.
“He doesn’t want to do it again. He knows how hard it’s going to be the second time, so he wants nothing to do with it.”