Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) has lashed out at Jeff Horn after the Australian boxer’s camp had called him a “princess” over the hand injury that has delayed their planned world title fight on April 14.
On Wednesday, their scheduled fight at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas was pushed back after it was revealed that Crawford suffering a minor hand injury that needs at least two weeks to heal.
Horn and his handlers questioned the severity of Crawford’s injury and felt the Omaha fighter’s toughness was highly overrated.
After hearing some of the verbal barbs being cast in his direction, including how Team Horn had labeled him as a ‘princess’ – it didn’t take long before Crawford came firing back.
Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton told Crawford to “toughen up, princess” after news emerged that their fight would be postponed due to a right-hand injury.
Horn’s promoter, Duco Events boss Dean Lonergan, went even further by calling him a “soft c**k”.
As far as Horn himself, he felt stated -” it just means that Terence is not as tough as we thought.”
The 30-year-old Crawford isn’t regarded as a big trash talker but he has made an exception for Horn, the WBO welterweight champion, who appears to have managed to get under his skin.
“I’m [going to] show you a little princess come fight night. You just keep training and keeping my belt warm, because I’m f***ing you up come fight night. You, me and everyone know it,” Crawford blasted out on social media.
Crawford has shown a high regard for Horn and his achievements in the past, even going as far to say he had deserved last year’s victory over Manny Pacquiao.
Crawford’s cordiality towards Horn had bucked that trend but a fraying of relations between the pair might be just what this fight needs.
Speculation had been rife that there was something else behind the decision to delay the fight, with doubts raised because at no stage was the contest listed on the Mandalay Bay’s events calendar, nor was it ever officially confirmed by Crawford’s promoter, Top Rank.
Within hours of Crawford’s injury being revealed, it was announced that Crawford-Horn would be streamed exclusively on ESPN’s new app – which is set to debut in the coming months.