Jeff Horn: Crawford fight is bigger than Pacquiao

Jeff Horn defends the WBO welterweight title against Terence Crawford on Saturday in Las Vegas, and the 30-year-old Australian says that this is an even bigger fight for him than last year’s tilt with Manny Pacquiao.

“This is an absolutely massive fight. The Pacquiao one was as well, but this is even bigger. I’ll be beating a unified world champion. My contract with Top Rank ends and I can negotiate a substantial amount for my next fight. There’s so much on the line for my career if I can win this fight.”

It’s hard to argue with the logic of Horn (18-0-1, 12 KO) here, since so much rides on this fight. If he upsets Crawford, he silences his critics — something else he says he’s looking forward to doing — and he sets himself up as THE fighter in the welterweight division in many ways. Without a deal with Top Rank, he could more easily fight some of the top PBC welterweights, where you have names like Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr, Danny Garcia, and Shawn Porter, among others.

Nobody expected him to beat Pacquiao, but in the end, controversial or not, he did. And now he’s got Crawford. Nobody seems to expect him to win this fight, either. If he does, he’s the A-side going forward, he’s the big dog. He’s right — as big as it was to win the title, retaining it here could be even bigger.