When any self respecting boxing fan hears the name Manny Pacquiao words like ‘Legend’, ‘Icon’ and ‘Greatness’ are sure to be some of the first to strike the forefront of their minds.
Unfortunately for him, future Pacquiao challenger Jeff Horn is nowhere near reaching the level of his career necessary for such terms to be realistically applied to him.
In fact it seems he may not even possess the notoriety to have appeared on his next opponent’s radar, until now.
In an interview with Fox News, when asked what he thought of his new opposition the first and only eight division world champion in boxing history simply said:
“I don’t know him.”
What this says about Pacquiao as a fighter is open to interpretation:
Has he reached such heights that now only the top names of the sport can allowably find themselves known to the ‘Pacman’?
Or is Jeff Horn truly that far down the boxing hierarchy that Pacquiao’s lack of knowledge on the Australian is justifiable?
Considering Horn has thus far in his career remained unknown to many in the international boxing community – as well as yours truly – I’m leaning towards the latter.
Later on in the interview Pacquiao declined to comment on what he thought of Horn’s chances in their match admitting he was yet to see him fight and that he had not even seen his face for that matter – Ouch.
On the prospect of fighting in Australia, however, Pacquiao appeared very eager:
“I’m hoping the fight will be in Australia, I’d love to do that.”
For many Jeff Horn may simply be in this position as a gap-filler for more engaging potential Pacquiao opponents in the future such as Terence Crawford or even Vasyl Lomachenko, if certain reports are to be believed.
He may not be a big name now, but Horn must surely be treating this as the opportunity of a lifetime and given his opponents enthusiasm to have the fight take place in his own back yard there are, at least, a few positives to be taken from being a tremendous underdog.
Pacquiao vs Horn is currently pencilled in for April 22.
