The great Manny Pacquiao has arrived, sporting a novelty t-shirt but delivering a serious message for his Australian opponent Jeff Horn ahead of their WBO welterweight title fight at Suncorp Stadium on July 2.
The Filipino boxing icon flew in bright and early to Brisbane on Monday morning to start a promotional tour for what will be the biggest fight ever staged on Australian soil. He will also visit Sydney and Melbourne during the week.
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Pacquiao's message for Horn
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Manny Pacquiao has a message for Jeff Horn before their July showdown.
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Pacquiao's message for Horn
Manny Pacquiao has a message for Jeff Horn before their July showdown.
The 38-year-old 11-time world champion splits his time between his duties as a senator in the Philippines and his return to the boxing ring, which began again last November when he came out of retirement to beat Jessie Vargas and claim the WBO version of the welterweight crown.
Now he will fight Brisbane's Horn, the undefeated London Olympian that gave up school teaching to pursue his ambitions in the sweet science. He will start as the clear outsider but will have an expected 55,000-plus fans in his corner.
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Critics have questioned Horn's credentials and also Pacquiao's effectiveness at this advanced stage of his career. He hasn't stopped an opponent since his 12th round TKO of Miguel Cotto in 2009.
But Pacquiao said he believed he was still one of the best in the business and Horn, 29, would need to be at his best and then some in July if he was to conjure an upset victory.
"I'm not going to predict the fight but I will do my best to entertain the fans. I'm very excited to fight here, I've fought a lot of fighters in the states. This is new, I'm excited. I can't wait for the fight," Pacquiao said.
"(I want) to defend my crown and prove that I'm still there in boxing, despite of my ambitions in office as a senator, I'm still handling my boxing career. I'm still there. I'm not done yet in boxing.
"My message for him is to work hard and show you are 100 per cent conditioned on July 2 so we can give people a good fight."
Pacquiao was hardly running through burning buildings to take the fight, preferring to meet Brit Amir Khan instead. Now that fight has fallen through, he said he would now throw his full force into the Horn bout, which already has a rematch clause should the Australian shock one of the sport's modern wonders.
"The fans motivate me to defend my belt on July 2. I'm looking forward to that. That's good for him that there's a lot of people to cheer for him. That's what I want. I love that," Pacquiao said.
"We're not talking yet about a rematch. I'm concerned on how to entertain the people, I know a lot of people will watch this fight."
Pacquiao had never even heard of Horn when the fight was first suggested and still hasn't seen a single piece of fight footage. That, he said, would happen in coming days, likely ahead of their joint press conference on Wednesday.
"I don't know much about him but I know he's a fighter. I haven't watched his fights yet but I'm going to get his last three fights and watch them."
Pacquiao won't be hanging around for long after the fight, which his camp believes is little more than a formality and are already talking about potential opponents in November.
Even for a man that has made hundreds of millions of dollars in his boxing career, the work never ends.
"I have to get back to the Philippines because I have stuff to do in the office."
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