Jeff Horn vs. Gary Corcoran near finalized for Dec.

By Boxing News - 10/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Jeff Horn vs. Gary Corcoran near finalized for Dec.

By Jim Dower: WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn and #11 fringe contender Gary Corcoran are close to having a fight finalized between them for a fight on December 15 in Australia. The fight would be shown in the U.S on December 16.

The light hitting Corcoran (17-1, 7 KOs) is the replacement for Manny Pacquiao, who couldn’t take the fight with Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) because of his senatorial job in the Philippines. Pacquiao won’t have time free to face Horn in a rematch until 2018. Pacquiao was supposed to challenge Horn for his WBO title in November.

The contracts have already been agreed for the Horn vs. Corcoran fight. It’s just waiting for them to be signed. According to Dan Rafael, the contracts are waiting for a facility to be built for the fight in Brisbane, Australia. It would be only 8,000 seating capacity rather than 50,000 for Horn’s fight against Manny Pacquiao last July at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. That happens to be the hometown of the 29-year-old Horn

“We are clearing a location in Brisbane and once that is cleared then we can go ahead with doing the fight, which will now take place in December instead of November, which is what we were originally planning,” Horn’s co-promoter Bob Arum said to ESPN.com.

#3 WBO Bradley Skeete was originally mentioned as the opponent for Horn, but he was quickly replaced by Corcoran, who isn’t nearly tricky and tall like Skeete. Horn might lose to someone like Skeete, who can box, move and slug. Skeete can do it all. Horn looked vulnerable against Pacquiao when he was throwing punches in bunches in round 9. Horn did well when Pacquiao was stationary and not throwing a lot of punches. Skeete would use movement, and he’d make it tough on Horn.

Skeete would have been a better option for Horn to face if he wanted to show the boxing public that he’s for real as the WBO 147 lb. champion, since a lot of the fans see him as a paper champion rather than a real champion. Horn’s controversial 12 round decision over Pacquiao was viewed as a robbery and a hometown decision. Horn was fighting in his hometown of Brisbane, and the scoring seemed out of play with what transpired inside the ring. Moreover, Horn used a lot of roughhouse tactics against Pacquiao and the referee didn’t step in to take points away from the Australian. Pacquiao’s face was badly cut up from the head-butts from Horn. They were accidental head-butts, to be sure, but the way Horn lead with the crown of his head throughout the fight needed to be addressed by the referee and it wasn’t. By facing Skeete, Horn would show the fans he was willing to take a risk in a voluntary defense instead of taking on a bottom feeder or near bottom feeder in Corcoran.

If Horn gets past Corcoran, then he’ll face Pacquiao after that. The winner of the Horn vs. Pacquiao 2 fight will then possibly face Terence “Bud” Crawford. That’s the fight scenario that Arum badly wants. Arum promotes all 3 of those fighters, and the winner, once the smoke clears, will likely be Crawford, Arum hopes to turn Crawford into a big start. Whether Arum can eventually turn the soon to be 30-year-old Crawford into a fighter the boxing public will pay to see it the big question. It might not be possible. There are some talented fighters that never make the leap to PPV, and the counter punching Crawford might be one of those guys. It wouldn’t be the end of Crawford’s career if he couldn’t make the leap to PPV. You got a lot of guys in boxing with boxing skills and talent that is in the same level as Crawford, and they never become PPV fighters. Look at Gennady Golovkin/ He’s a great fighter, but his fights aren’t shown on PPV except on rare occasions.

Horn won a 12 round decision win over Pacquiao on July 2 in a fight televised by ESPN. The judges scored it 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113. Boxing News 24 scored it in favor of Pacquiao. Horn cut Pacquiao to ribbons with his accidental head-butts he used in the fight. It was a hard fight to watch due to all the head-butting and other roughhouse tactics that Horn got away with.

“If Horn beats this kid [Corcoran], we could do the Pacquiao rematch in the first part of 2018 or go right to a [Horn] fight with Crawford,” Arum said. “Pacquiao might not fight again. Who knows?”

It’s quite likely Pacquiao, 38, will be returning to face Horn in a rematch in 2018. There’s too much money for Pacquiao to make fighting Horn again, and every little bit counts for the Filipino star. Moreover, Pacquiao wants to avenge his loss to Horn because he felt like he was the better fighter last July. Pacquiao didn’t agree with the final decision by the judges. Pacquiao thought he did more than enough to rate the decision.

If Horn beats Corcoran, there’s a possibly that he’ll be facing Crawford after that if Pacquiao doesn’t take the fight with him.