Jeff Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton predicted how the Aussie boxer would beat Manny Pacquiao 24 hours before the fight.
Pacquiao looked disinterested in the lead-up and admits taking Horn lightly after sensationally losing to the Aussie boxer.
Trainer Freddie Roach and advisor Michael Koncz did all his talking for him at the start of the week.
They clearly took a dismissive attitude towards Horn and Rushton, laughing off their challenge for the WBO welterweight title and egging Pacquiao on to seek an early knockout win.
In front of a packed hometown crowd at Suncorp Stadium, Horn punched his ticket to boxing’s big time with a gusty performance to win Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight championship.
Pacquiao said he accepted the judges’ decision and didn’t take Horn as seriously as he should have.
“I didn’t expect (he would be) that tough,” he said.
Pacquiao’s Aussie trainer and former heavyweight boxer Justin Fortune also admitted they underestimated the 29-year-old local hope.
“He fought better than we ever thought he would,” Fortune said.
“Jeff fought 100 times better than he’ll ever fight again. The kid’s got a lot of heart, a lot of balls. We’ll see where he goes from there.
“We knew he would fight nothing like we ever saw him on video, because 50,000 people, it’s your home, you’ll fight.”
But Fortune made it clear he did not agree with the result.
“The referee was sketchy, the judges were crazy,” Fortune told reporters.
“Manny lost the fight, but Jeff Horn looks like a pumpkin. Those scores, that card? It should be the other way around.
“You can make as many excuses as you’d like – it was a sh*tty referee, sh*tty judging. But that’s boxing.
“You get given a gift sometimes, you get screwed sometimes. But when you come to someone’s house you’re supposed to mess them up… never leave it in the judge’s hands.”
www.boxingscene.com/fortune-horn-fought-better-we-ever-thought-he–118183