HOLLYWOOD action heroes Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been invited to add punch to Australia?s biggest-ever fight when boxing schoolteacher Jeff Horn tackles all-time great Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium on July 2.
With just four weeks left before the real-life action blockbuster in Brisbane, the stars of Rocky and The Terminator top a guest list of celebrities that also includes Hollywood heavyweights Mark Wahlberg and ?The Fonz??, Henry Winkler.
All four actors are long-time friends of Pacquiao?s 85-year-old promoter, Bob Arum, who began staging world championship bouts for Muhammad Ali more than 50 years ago.
The fight, which has already established itself as the biggest bout in Australian history with more than 40,000 tickets sold, will be for Pacquiao?s World Boxing Organisation welterweight title, and Arum is inviting some of the greatest welterweights of all time to Brisbane, including Thomas ?Hitman?? Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, and ?The Hands of Stone??, Roberto Duran.
Another great welterweight champ, Shane Mosley, who lost to Pacquiao in 2011, will be in the corner of his son, Shane Jr, when he fights Canberra?s David Toussaint on the undercard.
State Tourism Minister Kate Jones says the fight will likely draw the biggest-ever crowd to Suncorp Stadium, and co-promoter Dean Lonergan said that with four weeks to go, he was confident there would be a 55,000 capacity crowd for the opening bell.
The fight will take place early on the Sunday afternoon to satisfy prime-time Saturday night television in the US.
?We have already topped the 38,000 tickets sold for the previous record for an Australian boxing match, which was the Jeff Fenech-Azumah Nelson fight in Melbourne in 1992,?? Lonergan said.
?We are promoting this as a huge sporting extravaganza, not just a fight, and we expect a big roll-up of celebrities at ringside, just as there is for the huge fights in Las Vegas.
?I?m tipping a Jeff Horn win. I believe he can score a huge upset. But whatever way the fight goes, it will likely be one of the most thrilling fights of the year.??
Pacquiao has a rematch clause to fight Horn again at Suncorp in November if the Brisbane fighter takes the world title, and while Horn won?t entertain the idea of defeat, Arum is already talking about him fighting former Pacquiao opponents Jessie Vargas or Timothy Bradley next if he loses.
