Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. (born 4 February 1988) is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur he represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the light-welterweight bracket.
Jeff Horn | ||||||||||||||
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Statistics | ||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) |
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Weight(s) |
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Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[2] | |||||||||||||
Reach | 69+1⁄2 in (177 cm)[2] | |||||||||||||
Born | (1988-02-04) 4 February 1988 (age 34) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | |||||||||||||
Stance | Orthodox | |||||||||||||
Boxing record | ||||||||||||||
Total fights | 24 | |||||||||||||
Wins | 20 | |||||||||||||
Wins by KO | 13 | |||||||||||||
Losses | 3 | |||||||||||||
Draws | 1 | |||||||||||||
Medal record
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As a relative newcomer to the sport, Horn won his first Australian title in 2009 and repeated the feat in 2011. He went on to win a silver medal at the Gee-Bee Tournament in Helsinki and compete at the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku where he lost to eventual champion Everton Lopes in the second round. In 2012, he picked up his third Australian title and first Oceania title to earn a spot at the London Olympics.
Men's light-welterweight (64 kg)[3]
Horn made his professional debut in Melbourne on 1 March 2013, winning by second-round technical knockout. In just his seventh pro bout he outpointed two-time world title challenger and former IBF #1 contender Naoufel Ben Rabah. On 27 April 2016, Horn faced former two-division world champion Randall Bailey. After dropping Bailey in the second round, Horn was knocked down in the third round. Horn won by TKO after Bailey refused to get up from his corner before round eight. On 21 October 2016, Horn fought Rico Mueller and defeated the German by TKO in round nine. After the fight, the WBO ranked him the #2 welterweight in the world. On 10 December 2016, Horn faced former IBO welterweight champion Ali Funeka, whom he stopped in the sixth round. With Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in attendance, his win set up a potential showdown with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.
Horn signed up to face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in Brisbane on 23 April 2017.[4] The announcement of the fight was met with relative surprise and disappointment due to Horn's limited exposure on the world stage, which led Pacquiao to comment "I don't know who Jeff Horn is". A tweet on 12 February by Pacquiao complicated negotiations when he said that he planned to fight in the United Arab Emirates. On 26 February, Pacquiao and Amir Khan announced that they had reached an agreement to fight, leaving Horn without an opponent. On 7 March the fight with Khan was called off and on 5 April a deal for the Pacquiao–Horn fight was reached. A press conference on 10 April signaled confirmation of the fight, which took place at Suncorp Stadium on 2 July 2017. Horn defeated Pacquiao via unanimous decision after 12 rounds.[5] CompuBox stats showed that Pacquiao landed 182 out of 573 punches thrown (32%), whilst Horn landed only 92 of 625 thrown (15%).[6][7] Many pundits, as well as many current and former boxers, believed Pacquiao had done enough to retain the WBO title.
Horn's win over Pacquiao was also criticized by some boxing analysts, sports journalists and fans alike, with some comparing the decision to that of the controversial Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight.[8][9] In regards to the controversial scorecards, ESPN's Dan Rafael scored the fight 117–111 and ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas scored it 116–111, both for Pacquiao.[10] The Guardian and the International Business Times both scored the fight in Pacquiao's favor as well, 117–111.[11][12] BoxingScene had it 116–112 for Pacquiao, while CBS Sports scored the fight 114–114 even.[13][14] BoxNation's Steve Bunce scored the fight 115–113 for Horn.[15] In total, 12 of 15 media outlets scored the bout for Pacquiao, 2 of 15 outlets ruled in favor of Horn and 1 scored a draw.[16]
Pacquiao claimed Horn got away with numerous dirty tactics in the fight, using illegal blows including elbows and headbutts.[17]
In response to a formal request by the Philippine Games and Amusements Board, the WBO agreed to review the fight between Pacquiao and Horn. It was scored round-by-round by five anonymous judges, but the WBO stated that they do not have the power to reverse the original result of the fight.[18] The WBO rescored the fight in favor of Horn winning seven rounds and Pacquiao winning five.[19]
Initially, Horn was to give Pacquiao a rematch, but the rematch was delayed and did not eventuate. As a result, Horn instead made a voluntary defence of the WBO title against Gary Corcoran on 13 December 2017. Corcoran's corner decided to throw in the towel in the eleventh round, thus Horn retained the title via TKO. Both fighters were cut during the fight, but Horn was leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
Horn was challenged by Terence Crawford on 9 June 2018, for the WBO welterweight title. Crawford defeated Horn via technical knockout in the ninth round, becoming the new WBO welterweight champion.[20]
Horn moved up to middleweight after the loss to Crawford and faced Anthony Mundine on 30 November 2018. He defeated Mundine in just 96 seconds.[21]
Next, Horn faced Michael Zerafa on 31 August 2019 in Bendigo. For the second time in his career, Horn lost via technical knockout in the ninth round.[22]
Horn however won the rematch on 18 December 2019 by majority decision to bring his record to 20–2–1.[23]
On 26 August, 2020, Horn faced one of Australia's best up-and-coming fighters Tim Tszyu. Tszyu was ranked #5 by the WBO at super welterweight.[24] Tszyu dropped Horn twice, once in the third and once in the sixth round, and continued to dominate Horn until the end of the eighth round, when Horn's corner decided not to continue the fight.[25]
Horn lives in Brisbane and his father, Jeff Horn Sr., is a builder. Horn's mother, Liza Dykstra, works for the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. His grandfather, Ray Horn, fought in exhibition boxing matches in the Queensland outback during the 1930s.[1][26] His second cousin is Graham Quirk, the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane.[27][28]
Horn holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Griffith University and formerly worked as a physical education teacher for Pallara State School in Brisbane.[1][29]
His daughter, Isabelle Kate Horn, was born on 30 December 2017.[30]
In his youth, Horn had been a victim of bullying and cited this as the reason he started boxing, initially as a means to defend himself.[28][29][31][32]
24 fights | 20 wins | 3 losses |
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By knockout | 13 | 3 |
By decision | 7 | 0 |
Draws | 1 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
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24 | Loss | 20–3–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 8 (10), 3:00 | 26 Aug 2020 | ![]() |
For IBF Australasian and WBO Global light-middleweight titles |
23 | Win | 20–2–1 | ![]() |
MD | 10 | 18 Dec 2019 | ![]() |
Won WBA Oceania, and WBO Oriental middleweight titles |
22 | Loss | 19–2–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 9 (10), 2:55 | 31 Aug 2019 | ![]() |
Lost WBA Oceania, and WBO Oriental middleweight titles |
21 | Win | 19–1–1 | ![]() |
KO | 1 (12), 1:36 | 30 Nov 2018 | ![]() |
Won WBO Oriental and vacant WBA Oceania middleweight titles |
20 | Loss | 18–1–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 9 (12), 2:33 | 9 Jun 2018 | ![]() |
Lost WBO welterweight title |
19 | Win | 18–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 11 (12), 1:35 | 13 Dec 2017 | ![]() |
Retained WBO welterweight title |
18 | Win | 17–0–1 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 2 Jul 2017 | ![]() |
Won WBO welterweight title |
17 | Win | 16–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 6 (10), 0:30 | 10 Dec 2016 | ![]() |
Retained WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title |
16 | Win | 15–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 9 (12), 2:19 | 21 Oct 2016 | ![]() |
Retained IBF Inter-Continental welterweight title |
15 | Win | 14–0–1 | ![]() |
RTD | 7 (12), 3:00 | 27 Apr 2016 | ![]() |
Retained IBF Inter-Continental and WBO Oriental welterweight titles; Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title |
14 | Win | 13–0–1 | ![]() |
UD | 10 | 5 Dec 2015 | ![]() |
Retained IBF Inter-Continental and WBO Oriental welterweight titles |
13 | Win | 12–0–1 | ![]() |
UD | 10 | 15 Oct 2015 | ![]() |
Retained WBA Pan African, IBF Inter-Continental, WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles; Won vacant WBA Oceania interim welterweight title |
12 | Win | 11–0–1 | ![]() |
TD | 7 (10), 3:00 | 1 Aug 2015 | ![]() |
Retained WBA Pan African, WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles; Won IBF Inter-Continental welterweight title; Unanimous TD after Horn cut from accidental head clash |
11 | Win | 10–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 3 (12), 2:03 | 13 Jun 2015 | ![]() |
Retained WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles; Won WBA Pan African welterweight title |
10 | Win | 9–0–1 | ![]() |
KO | 5 (10) | 6 Dec 2014 | ![]() |
Retained WBO Oriental and PABA welterweight titles |
9 | Win | 8–0–1 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 5 Jul 2014 | ![]() |
Retained WBO Oriental welterweight title; Won vacant PABA welterweight title |
8 | Win | 7–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 9 (12), 1:44 | 19 Mar 2014 | ![]() |
Won vacant WBO Oriental welterweight title |
7 | Win | 6–0–1 | ![]() |
UD | 6 | 6 Dec 2013 | ![]() |
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6 | Win | 5–0–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (8), 0:31 | 16 Nov 2013 | ![]() |
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5 | Win | 4–0–1 | ![]() |
KO | 1 (10), 1:18 | 12 Sep 2013 | ![]() |
Won vacant ANBF welterweight title |
4 | Draw | 3–0–1 | ![]() |
TD | 3 (8), 0:35 | 8 Aug 2013 | ![]() |
Unanimous TD after Cesaire cut from accidental head clash |
3 | Win | 3–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (4), 2:42 | 9 May 2013 | ![]() |
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2 | Win | 2–0 | ![]() |
KO | 1 (6), 1:33 | 27 Apr 2013 | ![]() |
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1 | Win | 1–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (4), 2:22 | 1 Mar 2013 | ![]() |
Sporting positions | ||||
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Regional boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Fred Tukes |
Australian welterweight champion 12 September 2013 – January 2014 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Rivan Cesaire | ||
Vacant Title last held by Samuel Colomban |
WBO Oriental welterweight champion 19 March 2014 – June 2016 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Alexandr Zhuravskiy | ||
Vacant Title last held by Tewa Kiram |
PABA welterweight champion 5 July 2014 – December 2015 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Tewa Kiram | ||
Vacant Title last held by Richmond Djarbeng |
WBA Pan African welterweight champion 13 June 2015 – November 2015 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Paul Kamanga | ||
Preceded by Viktor Plotnikov |
IBF Inter-Continental welterweight champion 1 August 2015 – February 2017 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Tsiko Mulovhedzi | ||
New title | WBA Oceania welterweight champion Interim title 15 October 2015 – December 2015 Vacated |
Title discontinued | ||
Vacant Title last held by Sadam Ali |
WBO Inter-Continental welterweight champion 27 April 2016 – April 2017 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Gary Corcoran | ||
Vacant Title last held by Tej Pratap Singh |
WBA Oceania middleweight champion 30 November 2018 – 31 August 2019 |
Succeeded by | ||
Preceded by | WBO Oriental middleweight champion 30 November 2018 – 31 August 2019 | |||
Preceded by Michael Zerafa |
WBA Oceania middleweight champion 18 December 2019 – present |
Incumbent | ||
WBO Oriental middleweight champion 18 December 2019 – present | ||||
World boxing titles | ||||
Preceded by | WBO welterweight champion 2 July 2017 – 9 June 2018 |
Succeeded by |