By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn has an excellent opportunity for a big fight against former super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine next, as long as he can get his mandatory challenger Terence Crawford out of the way by giving him a step aside payment.
Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) is supposed to be defending his WBO 147 lb. title against Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) next, as he’s been given the No.1 ranking by the World Boxing Organization at welterweight without having fought in the division. Horn already took a voluntary defense against Gary Corcoran on December 13, which he won by an 11th round knockout, and now he’s required to face Crawford.
”I think it’s the biggest fight in Australia,” Mundine said via The Sydney Morning Herald. “People want to see it, so let’s get it done. I’m too much for him. I’m too big, I’m too fast, my feet are too good. People are gonna say, ‘Can he do it?’ and have question marks over my age. But I see good, I’m like fine wine, I’m getting better with age. I feel like I’m getting seasoned now as a professional, I’ve only been in the sport since I was 25,” said Mundine.
The problem is, Horn can make more money fighting the 42-year-old Mundine (47-8. 27 KOs) than he can fighting Crawford. It’s a dilemma for Horn. Does he take the smaller money fight with Crawford and likely lose to him or does he take the bigger money fight with Mundine and potentially get stripped of his WBO title. It seems like an easy thing to figure out. If the chances are high that Horn is going to lose anyway to Crawford, he might as well fight for the bigger payday against Mundine. If the WBO strips Horn, then so be it. He’ll at least have the nice paying fight with Mundine.
If Horn has to pay Crawford a large step aside arrangement for him to let him take the fight with Mundine, it might not even be worth it take the fight. If Crawford is paid big money to step aside, it’ll eat into the money that Horn makes facing Mundine. However, Horn will still get 2 paydays fighting Mundine and Crawford, but the money won’t be quite as good as it would be due to him needing to pay a step aside money.
Horn’s promoter is hoping that more money will be on the line for when he faces Crawford. If Horn can make more money fighting Mundine, it’s going to be difficult to turn that payday down.
Mundine’s last fight was at light heavyweight last February in losing to the highly popular 44-year-old Danny Green by a 10 round majority decision. Mundine moved up from 154 to take the fight with Green, and he gave a good account of himself despite having moved up in weight 3 divisions. Mundine spent most of his career fighting at super middleweight. He only moved down to 154 in 2011. Mundine will be fighting at 160 in his next fight against Tommy Browne (35-6-2, 13 KOs) on January 17 in a fight for the vacant WBO Oriental title.