Horn vs Corcoran official for December 13

Jeff Horn’s first title defense is set and official, as the Australian fighter will defend his WBO welterweight belt on December 13 in Brisbane against Gary Corcoran.

ESPN will televise the fight live in the United States, though it will start at 6:30 am ET on a Wednesday, which will be fun for some of us but means a lot of people just won’t see the fight, at least not live.

Horn (17-0-1, 11 KO) is of course coming off of an incredibly controversial decision win over Manny Pacquiao in July, where he won the WBO belt. A rematch was set for November, but Pacquiao pulled out, citing his duties as a Senator in the Philippines.

There’s still some belief that Horn will rematch Pacquiao in 2018, but there’s also been a lot of talk of Horn instead facing Terence Crawford, who has decided to move up to 147 and has been named mandatory challenger by the sanctioning body.

Corcoran (17-1, 7 KO) could be charitably described as a “fringe contender,” I guess. His most notable fight came in July 2016, when he was stopped in the 11th round by Liam Williams in a 154-pound fight. He’s gone 2-0 since moving down to welterweight, beating journeyman James Gorman and prospect Larry Ekundayo.