After defeating Manny Pacquiao back in July to win the WBO Welterweight title, Australian boxer Jeff Horn will mount his first defence of the title this Wednesday, the 13th of December as he takes on Englishman Gary Corcoron.
Horn brings a 28-0 record into the fight, and is probably lucky to be in the position he is currently in. Many boxing pundits thought that the Filipino great did enough to beat Horn back in December, however, it’s not how the judges saw it. The rematch was scheduled for this November but due to Pacquiao’s commitments as a Filipino Senator, the fight had to be postponed. Enter Gary Corcoran.
Corcoran is currently ranked as the 10th contender in the Welterweight division by WBO boxing and as low as 69th by IBO. It marks a good opportunity for Horn to ease his way into the Welterweight title defence by taking on Corcoron, who is regarded as a class below Horn.
Corcoran’s record currently stands at 17-0-1 with 11 knockouts. The majority of his serious fights came in the weight class above, before his only loss to date coming at the hands of Brit Liam Williams, saw him retreat back to the Welterweight division.
So how has a relative journeyman boxer come to be fighting for the WBO Welterweight title? By beating a 35-year-old inexperienced boxer for a vacant WBO Intercontinental title, and because Horn needed a replacement for the absent Pacquiao.
Horn and his camp in particular won’t have wanted to fight a real contender with limited preparation after Pacquiao withdrew from the potential matchup in September, and they would have wanted the fight rescheduled fight to be one they were sure Horn would win.
Horn starts as a heavy $1.15 favourite for the fight, which is probably about right. I really can’t see much value in this fight. As far as a world title fight goes, it’s a pretty lacklustre one and as long as Horn doesn’t take his opponent lightly here, he should come away with a victory.
However, hunger can be a big factor in success, and this is Corcoran’s one shot to prove to the world he has what it takes. If he loses this handily, he will return to obscurity and likely never fight for a title again, so at the very least we can expect a spirited fight from him. Horn still hasn’t established himself as a worthy WBO title holder, and struggled to get past Manny Pacquiao. There are definitely holes in his game, so we aren’t counting out Corcoran here.
There’s really only value on his side of the coin, so while we won’t be loading up on him, we think there’s defienitely potential for Corcoran to cause an upset or at least make the fight go the distance.
TIP: Gary Corcoran to win - $5.50 at Ladbrokes
Saver: Fight to go the distance - $2.38 at Ladbrokes
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