A money-spinning megabout against Canelo Alvarez or a lucrative rematch with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao loom on the horizon should Jeff Horn produce another stunning upset and retain his WBO welterweight title against undefeated American Terence Crawford in Las Vegas on Sunday morning (AEST).
Horn?s promoters Duco Events are in the final fight of a deal with American matchmaking heavyweights Top Rank, meaning Horn will be able to line up his next opponent free from the shackles of boxing politics, provided he negotiates a way past Crawford.
That will leave the door ajar to take on some of the biggest names in the sport, chief among them Alvarez and Pacquiao.
Alvarez has won titles across multiple divisions, losing only once in his 52-fight career, and was due to face middleweight king Gennady Golovkin for a second time until testing positive for a banned substance and given a six-month ban.
The 27-year-old Mexican remains one of the biggest names in the sport, commanding multimillion-dollar paydays every time he steps in the ring. Horn and his trainer Glenn Rushton would love a slice of the action, but if that doesn?t come off, they could seek another bout with 39-year-old Pacquiao.
Pacquiao hasn?t fought since being battered by Horn at Suncorp Stadium last year but is due to return to the ring against Argentinian Lucas Matthysse in Malaysia next month.
Horn has the chance to become a massive name in the sport by beating Crawford, making him an alluring opponent for every fighter in the world. Rushton still has a burning desire to unify the welterweight division, although he also has an eye on Alvarez as he looks to take on the biggest and best in the sport.
Asked whether unifying the divisions was still a priority, Rushton said: ?We would love to. That is if the people who hold the other belts (want to fight Horn) ? once we knock Crawford out they might not be so keen to put their titles on the line.
?We have no fears about Errol Spence Jr, no fears about (Chris) Thurman who is out in the paddock again now with injury.
?We will seek to unify or if we can?t do that, we will chase Alvarez if he wants to fight. We will fight him at light middleweight.
?That would be a huge fight. That is very much on our radar. We want the biggest fight we can get because I believe Jeff can beat them all. Prepared well, he has the skills, the chin and the heart to beat them all.?
Horn?s promoter Dean Lonergan, director of Duco Events, is bullish about the potential for the Australian to take on the sport?s highest-profile fighters.
?My job as a promoter is to focus one, two and three fights ahead,? Lonergan said. ?At the moment I am focusing on this outcome. I have a great deal of confidence that Jeff is going to win this fight but let?s not underestimate just how good Crawford is.
?I think it has been stated on a number of occasions that this is the biggest fight in Australian history. How often does a bloke come off the back of beating an all-time legend, one of the greatest boxers of all time, into the pound-for-pound king of the day.
?The answer is it has probably never happened and we?re going into the modern-day home of boxing in Las Vegas.?
Lonergan and Horn will be free to go in whatever direction they choose when the deal with Top Rank comes to an end.
While Lonergan refuses to rule out extending his deal with Top Rank and its boss Bob Arum, there is a sense that the existing deal has at times held Horn back.
Lonergan was previously keen for Horn to fight Miguel Cotto but was talked out of it by Arum.
?I was keen as mustard and so was Glenn Rushton for the last fight to be against Miguel Cotto,? Lonergan said. ?Bob didn?t want to know about it. It would have been a brilliant fight for Jeff. Jeff would have beaten Miguel Cotto and it would have been another great fighter on his resume to elevate his status in America. Bob didn?t want to do it. His words to me were ?no, no, no, Cotto will win too easy?. I am going ?hold on Bob, I don?t think he would?.?
