Jeff Horn


Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur he represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the light-welterweight bracket. As of June 2020, he is ranked as the world's tenth best active middleweight by BoxRec.

Amateur career

As a relative newcomer to the sport, Horn won his first Australian title in 2009 and repeated the feat in 2011. He went on to win a silver medal at the Gee-Bee Tournament in Helsinki and compete at the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku where he lost to eventual champion Everton Lopes in the second round. In 2012, he picked up his third Australian title and first Oceania title to earn a spot at the London Olympics.

2012 London Olympics

Results

Men's light-welterweight
  1. Round of 32 : defeated Gilbert Choombe, Zambia
  2. Round of 16 : defeated Abderrazak Houya, Tunisia
  3. Quarterfinals : lost to Denys Berinchyk, Ukraine

    Professional career

Early career

Horn made his professional debut in Melbourne on 1 March 2013, winning by second-round technical knockout. In just his seventh pro bout he outpointed two-time world title challenger and former IBF #1 contender Naoufel Ben Rabah. On 27 April 2016, Horn faced former two-division world champion Randall Bailey. After dropping Bailey in the second round, Horn was knocked down in the third round. Horn won by TKO after Bailey refused to get up from his corner before round eight. On 21 October 2016, Horn fought Rico Mueller and defeated the German by TKO in round nine. After the fight, the WBO ranked him the #2 welterweight in the world. On 10 December 2016, Horn faced former IBO welterweight champion Ali Funeka, whom he stopped in the sixth round. With Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in attendance, his win set up a potential showdown with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.

Horn vs. Pacquiao

Horn signed up to face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in Brisbane on 23 April 2017. The announcement of the fight was met with relative surprise and disappointment due to Horn's limited exposure on the world stage, which led Pacquiao to comment "I don't know who Jeff Horn is". A tweet on 12 February by Pacquiao complicated negotiations when he said that he planned to fight in the United Arab Emirates. On 26 February, Pacquiao and Amir Khan announced that they had reached an agreement to fight, leaving Horn without an opponent. On 7 March the fight with Khan was called off and on 5 April a deal for the Pacquiao–Horn fight was reached. A press conference on 10 April signaled confirmation of the fight, which took place at Suncorp Stadium on 2 July 2017. Horn defeated Pacquiao via unanimous decision after 12 rounds. CompuBox stats showed that Pacquiao landed 182 out of 573 punches thrown, whilst Horn landed only 92 of 625 thrown. Many pundits, as well as many current and former boxers, believed Pacquiao had done enough to retain the WBO title.
Horn's equivocal win over Pacquiao was also widely criticized by boxing analysts, sports journalists and fans alike, with many comparing the decision to that of the controversial Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight. In regards to the controversial scorecards, ESPN's Dan Rafael scored the fight 117–111 and ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas scored it 116–111, both for Pacquiao. The Guardian and the International Business Times both scored the fight in Pacquiao's favor as well, 117–111. BoxingScene had it 116–112 for Pacquiao, while CBS Sports scored the fight 114–114 even. BoxNation's Steve Bunce scored the fight 115–113 for Horn. In total, 12 of 15 media outlets scored the bout for Pacquiao, 2 of 15 outlets ruled in favor of Horn and 1 scored a draw.
Pacquiao claimed Horn got away with numerous dirty tactics in the fight, using illegal blows including elbows and headbutts.

Rescore by WBO

In response to a formal request by the Philippine Games and Amusements Board, the WBO agreed to review the fight between Pacquiao and Horn. It was scored round-by-round by five anonymous judges, but the WBO stated that they do not have the power to reverse the original result of the fight. The WBO rescored the fight in favor of Horn winning seven rounds and Pacquiao winning five.

First title defence

Initially, Horn was to give Pacquiao a rematch, but the rematch has been delayed and may not eventuate. As a result, Horn instead made a voluntary defence of the WBO title against Gary Corcoran on 13 December 2017. Corcoran’s corner decided to throw in the towel in the eleventh round, thus Horn retained the title via TKO. Both fighters were cut during the fight, but Horn was leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

First loss

Horn was challenged by Terence Crawford on 9 June 2018, for the WBO welterweight title. Crawford defeated Horn via technical knockout in the ninth round, becoming the new WBO welterweight champion.

Middleweight

Horn moved up to middleweight after the loss to Crawford and faced Anthony Mundine on 30 November 2018. He defeated Mundine in just 96 seconds and then faced Michael Zerafa on 31 August 2019 in Bendigo. For the second time in his career, Horn lost via technical knockout in the ninth round. Horn however won the rematch on 18 December 2019 by majority decision to bring his record to 20–2–1.

Personal life

Horn lives in Brisbane and his father, Jeff Horn Sr., is a builder. Horn's mother, Liza Dykstra, works for the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. His grandfather, Ray Horn, fought in exhibition boxing matches in the Queensland outback during the 1930s. His second cousin is Graham Quirk, the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane.
Horn holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Griffith University and formerly worked as a physical education teacher for Pallara State School in Brisbane.
His daughter, Isabelle Kate Horn, was born on 30 December 2017.
In his youth, Horn had been a victim of bullying and cited this as the reason he started boxing, initially as a means to defend himself.

Awards and recognitions

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
24 Tim Tszyu– 26 Aug 2020 Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville, AustraliaFor IBF Australasian and WBO Global light-middleweight titles
23Win20–2–1 Michael Zerafa1018 Dec 2019 Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, AustraliaWon WBA Oceania, and WBO Oriental middleweight titles
22Loss19–2–1 Michael ZerafaTKO9 31 Aug 2019 Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, AustraliaLost WBA Oceania, and WBO Oriental middleweight titles
21Win19–1–1 Anthony MundineKO1, 1:3630 Nov 2018 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, AustraliaWon WBO Oriental and vacant WBA Oceania middleweight titles
20Loss18–1–1 Terence CrawfordTKO9, 2:339 Jun 2018 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, USLost WBO welterweight title
19Win18–0–1 Gary CorcoranTKO11, 1:3513 Dec 2017 Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, AustraliaRetained WBO welterweight title
18Win17–0–1 Manny PacquiaoUD122 Jul 2017 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, AustraliaWon WBO welterweight title
17Win16–0–1 Ali FunekaTKO6, 0:3010 Dec 2016 Vector Arena, Auckland, New ZealandRetained WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title
16Win15–0–1 Rico MuellerTKO9, 2:1921 Oct 2016 Sleeman Centre, Brisbane, AustraliaRetained IBF Inter-Continental welterweight title
15Win14–0–1 Randall Bailey7, 3:0027 Apr 2016 Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, AustraliaRetained IBF Inter-Continental and WBO Oriental welterweight titles;
Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title
14Win13–0–1 Ahmed El MousaouiUD105 Dec 2015 Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, New ZealandRetained IBF Inter-Continental and WBO Oriental welterweight titles
13Win12–0–1 Alfredo Rodolfo BlancoUD1015 Oct 2015 The Trusts Arena, Henderson, New ZealandRetained WBA Pan African, IBF Inter-Continental, WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles;
Won vacant WBA Oceania interim welterweight title
12Win11–0–1 Viktor Plotnikov7, 3:001 Aug 2015 Stadium Southland, Invercargill, New ZealandRetained WBA Pan African, WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles;
Won IBF Inter-Continental welterweight title;
Unanimous TD after Horn was cut from an accidental head clash
11Win10–0–1 Richmond DjarbengTKO3, 2:0313 Jun 2015 Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North, New ZealandRetained WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles;
Won WBA Pan African welterweight title
10Win9–0–1 Robson AssisKO5 6 Dec 2014 Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, New ZealandRetained WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles
9Win8–0–1 Fernando Ferreira da SilvaUD125 Jul 2014 Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau, New ZealandRetained WBO Oriental welterweight title;
Won vacant PABA welterweight title
8Win7–0–1 Rivan CesaireTKO9, 1:4419 Mar 2014 Jupiters Theatre, Gold Coast, AustraliaWon vacant WBO Oriental welterweight title
7Win6–0–1 Naoufel Ben Rabah66 Dec 2013 Metro City Northbridge, Perth, Australia
6Win5–0–1 Aswin CabuyTKO2, 0:3116 Nov 2013 Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane, Australia
5Win4–0–1 Samuel ColombanKO1, 1:1812 Sep 2013 Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, AustraliaWon vacant ANBF welterweight title
4Draw3–0–1 Rivan Cesaire3, 0:358 Aug 2013 Southport RSL Club, Gold Coast, AustraliaUnanimous TD after Cesaire was cut from an accidental head clash
3Win3–0 Nuengsiam KiatsongsangTKO1, 2:429 May 2013 Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane, Australia
2Win2–0 Torin Rophia1, 1:3327 Apr 2013 Fortitude Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
1Win1–0 Jody Allen2, 2:221 Mar 2013 Grand Star Receptions, Melbourne, Australia