The say time is the one thing that waits for no man. Manny Pacquiao at that stage of his boxing career where the question is being asked.
This week has seen Boxing royalty on Australian shores as Manny Pacquiao arrived to take part in a whirlwind, 3-city tour to promote their upcoming WBO World Title fight in Brisbane on July 2nd with press conferences in Brisbane and Sydney as well as an appearance on the ‘Footy Show’ in Melbourne.
The mood in the Horn camp appears to be very positive, and rightfully so – they have the opportunity to fight one of the all-time greats in front of a 55,000 home crowd and challenge for a World Title in the process, every young fighters dream.
Horn is so far unbeaten and having fought his way to the number 1 contender spot, beating highly experienced opponents in Randall Bailey (46-9-0) and more recently Ali Funeka (39-5-3) in the process, the former school teacher from Queensland is confident he can continue his upward trajectory come July 2nd against the Pac Man.
But just how big a task is ahead of the young Aussie?
In Manny Pacquiao, Horn will not only be facing one of the sport’s greatest ever fighters (and an 8-weight World Champion), he will be coming up against World class athlete with almost four times the professional experience, a man who has been at the pinnacle of the sport since before Horn laced up a glove for the first time and a Ring Resume that boasts wins over Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and Antonio Margarito to name a few.
In fact, to find the last time Pacquaio faced an opponent with less experience than Horn, we must go back all the way to 1999!
However, if we consider the last opponent with a similar record to Horn, Chris Algieri is the obvious example, and that does not bode well for ‘The Hornet’. Algieri, like Horn, had forced himself into contention by defeating Ruslan Provodnikov in an epic battle of wills.
Given the resilience he had shown against the hard-hitting Provodnikov, many were shocked by the ease in which Pacquiao dismantled the young American, dropping him 6 times on the way to a lopsided victory.
Admittedly, Algieri was a light welterweight stepping up whereas Horn is a legitimate and heavy-handed Welterweight but it was the difference in class that shone through against Algieri and Pacquiao will be hoping for a similar outcome in Brisbane as he makes the first defence of his WBO Welterweight Title.
The ‘Battle for Brisbane’ will be a true experience versus youth fight, an old master against a young lion.
This is a dynamic Boxing fans are used to and as many know, these things can often be down to timing as much as anything else.
Father time catches up with everyone, the funny thing in Boxing is that we often don’t find out until it’s too late. Will Horn be able to take the future Hall-Of-Famer to deep waters?
Or will Pacquiao’s speed and experience shine through as it has done so many times in the past?
This is not the first time the veteran Filipino’s age has been called in question and so far we are yet to see any kind of decline worth speaking of, but come July 2nd Jeff Horn will be looking to change all of that and place himself atop the talent-rich Welterweight division in the biggest fight this country has seen for a very long time.
