Sydney: Australia’s Jeff Horn will defend his WBO welterweight title against England’s Gary Corcoran in December before a potential blockbuster bout with UFC star Conor McGregor, reports said on Sunday.
Horn stunned Manny Pacquiao in a unanimous 12-round points decision in July, with the Filipino great pulling out of a planned rematch later this year.
This has opened the door to Corcoran, with the bout set for December 13 in Brisbane as part of a two-fight deal inked with the Queensland state government, the Brisbane Courier-Mail said.
“Corcoran is 26, so he’s three years younger than me — he’s very fit, strong and hungry,” Horn told the newspaper.
“He’s a dangerous guy. I know what it’s like to be a determined underdog just like he is going into this fight.
“This is his golden opportunity to do what I did against Pacquiao but there are millions of dollars on offer for me with big fights in 2018 so I can’t let this guy come to my hometown and wreck all my good work.”
Known as “Hell Raiser”, Corcoran has 17 wins and one defeat to Horn’s 17 wins and one draw.
He told World Boxing News earlier this month he was keen to face Horn in the biggest fight of his career. “Horn is there to beat, I can beat him. I’ve sparred with some world class fighters in this country, I can win a world title,” Corcoran said.
If he wins, Horn then hopes to fight mixed martial arts champion McGregor, who made his boxing debut in a money-spinning defeat to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in August.
Charismatic Irishman McGregor performed creditably and said afterwards he was open to boxing again, potentially placing him on a collision course with his Ultimate Fighting Championship paymasters.
Promoter Dean Lonergan told state broadcaster ABC he was working on a second event in Brisbane before June 30 next year.
“We’d love to have Manny Pacquiao down here (again), he’s certainly one of the guys on the table,” he said.
“There’s been some murmurings and rumblings that perhaps we could get Conor McGregor down here.
“I would put the challenge out to Conor McGregor — tell me how much you want it and we’ll see if we can make it work.”
Jermell Charlo, meanwhile, retained his World Boxing Council title and kept his unbeaten string alive with a shocking first round knockout of Erickson Lubin on Saturday at the Barclays Center arena.
Charlo won the battle for bragging rights in the 154-pound division in a matchup of unbeaten fighters as he floored Lubin out with a vicious short right hand at 2:41 of the opening round. Charlo, 27, improved to 30-0 with 15 knockouts in the second defence of his super welterweight title.
The 22-year-old Lubin suffered the first loss of his career, falling to 18-1 with 13 KOS.
In the first of three consecutive title fights on Saturday, Jarrett Hurd made his first title defence by retaining his International Boxing Federation belt with a 10th round stoppage of veteran Austin Trout.
