The prospect of a fight between Australian boxers Anthony Mundine and Jeff Horn is looking more likely by the day, as members from both camps continue to negotiate the details of the proposed match.
Mundine’s adviser Emaid Dib has reportedly spoken to Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton twice this week about the possibility of a bout between the two former champs – claiming that the fight could spell Horn’s biggest payday to date.
These developments come in the wake of Horn’s recent welterweight world title loss to American boxer Terence Crawford on Sunday, News.com.au reports.
The prospect of a fight between Australian boxers Anthony Mundine (left) and Jeff Horn (right) is looking increasingly likely, as members from both camps continue to negotiate the details
Following that blow, Horn announced he would be taking some time out so that he could focus on rebuilding his career.
But representatives from Mundine’s camps are hoping to get negotiations over the line as quickly as possible, with hope that there will be a showdown at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium as soon as November this year.
A time frame and a junior-middleweight limit of 70kg have both already been fixed.
‘I told [Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton] that we have very definite plans,’ said Dib.
‘Anthony is 43 so we want the fight to happen as soon as possible. We don’t want to turn this into a long-drawn out thing like the Mundine-Danny Green rematch that took years of to-and-fro negotiations.’
The developments follow in the wake of Horn’s (pictured: left) recent welterweight world title loss to American boxer Terence Crawford (pictured: right) on Sunday
Dib also noted that both his conversations with Rushton thus far had been ‘very positive’.
‘I told Glenn that this is Jeff’s opportunity to make a career high payday fighting in his own backyard.’
It has been suggested that a fight with Mundine could see Horn, 30, taking home his heftiest prize purse yet – bigger than the $1 million he made against both Manny Pacquiao and Gary Corcoran and the $2.5 million he made against Crawford.
Mundine’s adviser Emaid Dib has reportedly spoken to Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton (pictured) twice this week about the possibility of a bout between the two former champs
As a point of comparison, Dib argued that as an ex-world champ Horn could only hope to make as much as $200,000 from bouts with other leading contenders such as Adrien Broner or Jessie Vargas.
‘The conversations I’ve had with Glenn Rushton were very encouraging and we are confident the fight will be one of the biggest ever seen in Australia,’ said Dib.
Horn’s father, Jeff Sr, has expressed some favour for the showdown – if for no other reason than that it offers the potential for his son to rake in maximum winnings for minimum risk.
Jeff Sr has always wanted Horn to make as much money as possible from boxing and quit before taking too much physical punishment.
Horn’s manager Dean Lonergan, on the other hand, recently blasted rumours of a showdown with Mundine- saying the potential match-up ‘appeals to me like six cups of warm sick’.
‘Tell Mundine the fight won’t happen,’ Lonergan added.
‘There is no way I am going to let Mundine run the promotion because at the end of the day I’m the one paying the bills.’
‘I told Glenn that this is Jeff’s opportunity to make a career high payday fighting in his own backyard’ said Dib (pictured) – who is hoping to get the negotiations over the line as soon as possible