Yeah, mammoths, like elephants, had tusks, not horns. We plead with boxing betting fans to let us have our little wordplays, especially when they serve as an introduction to Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn (as well as help us fill our catchy-title quota). The un-retired Pac-Man and the undefeated unknown will meet on 2 July 2017 for the former’s WBO welterweight title at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. As people who bet on boxing would expect, the 38 year old with the Flowbee haircut is the favorite over the 29 year old who has never fought outside of his native country:
Boxing betting odds at SBG
Jeff Horn – 9½ (-200) +425
Manny Pacquiao – 9½ (+170) -550
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach’s advice for Horn is to not quit his day job. “He can go back to school teaching. He will realize he has bitten off more than he can chew. There’s nothing he can bring to the table that we haven’t seen before,” Roach said. “Experience-wise he is going to be overwhelmed. I hope he comes out hard. I hope he brings it. I hope he fights the fight of his life because he is going to need to if he wants to survive.” Wait, is that bullying? It better not be, for Pacquiao sake. As the Sunday Morning Herald reports, one of the reasons Horn took up boxing was to defend himself from bullies. “Day by day, it takes a bit of you,” he said. “I know the lows you can feel. I’ve had those feelings, like suicidal thoughts. I can remember some days that I felt that because of the bullying.”
Bet on the Pac-Man
Additionally, ABS-CBN News reports that Horn intends to give Pac-Man a dose of his own medicine. If boxing betting fans put two and two together, the only logical conclusion is that Horn’s strategy involves somehow giving Pacquiao a dose of lithium and then waiting for the side effects to kick in. Oh wait, when they said ‘medicine’ it was figuratively. They actually meant speed – as in quickness. “Manny’s legs aren’t as fast as they were 10 years ago. If he’s cut corners in his preparation, Jeff will make him pay hard for every one of those 38 years,” Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton told the Courier Mail. “Jeff’s a heavy puncher but the legs are the key to this fight. His legs are 29, Manny’s are 38.”
Do what you need to do
At least one person, however, has advised Horn to “be dirty. You’re fighting for a world title. You need to do everything you need to do to get that title.” That being former three-weight division world champion and fellow Aussie Jeff Fenech, who also proposed that Horn “take [Pacquiao] somewhere he hasn’t been.” As fans who bet on boxing may or may not know, Horn is 16-0-1 and has won the IBF Inter-Continental Welterweight Title and the WBO Inter-Continental Welterweight Title. Meanwhile, Pac-Man – who, again, is the boxing betting fave – won the WBO welterweight title from Jessie Vargas in his second bout since coming out of his 10-minute retirement.