JEFF HORN was barely 12 years old when Manny Pacquiao turned boxing professional 21 years ago.
Seventeen years later, they will battle for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.
That will be on July 2, when Pacquiao defends his crown—one of 11 world titles he has amassed in more than two decades of beakbusting.
Eight of Pacquiao’s 11 belts were unprecedented eight championships in different weight categories.
Awesome and scary at the same time.
If Horn hasn’t realized the enormity yet of the challenge he is to face in the Battle of Brisbane, I close my eyes.
Horn is unbeaten but then, how to compare his 17 fights (one draw) to Pacquiao’s 67?
Yes, Horn has knocked out 11 in collecting an unbeaten slate. But not even one of his total 16 victims has credentials worth noting. If all but one were bartenders at Darling Harbour by the Opera in Sydney, shucks.
In contrast, Pacquiao’s 59-6-2, win-loss-draw record is decorated with 38 knockouts—embellishing it with spectacular stoppages of Hall of Fame-bound fighters like Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, David Diaz, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
Horn shifted to boxing from teaching only in 2013. For better pay?
Pacquiao, fighting since 1996, is now a true-blue billionaire.
At 29, Horn has, for the first time, a giant for a foe—literally.
At 38, Pacquiao has, in a little bit of a while, a patsy to face—virtually.
I do not know exactly what to say of the fight, except to treat it—if I were Pacquiao—as another day in the office.
I do not know exactly what to say of Pacquiao, except to call him, this time, as more of a businessman than a boxer. He is guaranteed $7.5 million.
“Boxing is my passion,” said Pacquiao on Monday in promoting the fight in Brisbane, Australia. “I’m not done yet.”
Not bad for a sales pitch.
With their ocean-wide disparity in fight records alone, Pacquiao will teach Horn a boxing lesson in Brisbane.
If Horn hungers for a return to classroom teaching after the fight, not even his Mom would be surprised. His mother should know.
THAT’S IT Historic and heart-tugging is the return of the Philippines Masters from May 25 to 27 at Villamor, home of the fabled event since its birth 42 years ago under its great and glorious godfather: the late, lamented Col. Nereo C. Andolong. No less than the legendary now-departed Ben Arda won the 1975 inaugurals. The Masters’s last champ in 2000 was my compadre Cassius Casas. I raise a glass to consistent golf supporter International Container Terminal Services Inc. chief Ricky Razon, through his trusted ally Narlene Soriano, in cooperation with Colo Ventosa of the Philippine Golf Tour Inc. and tournament director Luigi Tabuena. Cheers, fellers!