Brisbane schoolteacher Jeff Horn stripped off, made weight and then eyeballed 11-time world champion Manny Pacquiao for the last time ahead of Sunday afternoon’s WBO welterweight showdown before 50,000 people at Suncorp Stadium.
“I finally thought to myself, ‘I’m not smiling’,” the unassuming 29-year-old said. “Game face is on. School is out.”
There have been so many words spoken in the past week about this fight it will be a welcome relief when the two boxers finally step into the ring, which was still being constructed in the middle of Queensland’s famous rugby league field as the pre-fight weigh-in took place on Saturday morning.
Both fighters looked as lean as greyhounds as they made their way to the scales to ensure they were under the maximum weight of 66.7 kilograms.
The weigh-in was done at the unusual time of 9.10am so it could be broadcast live into prime-time on the US east coast on ESPN. It was announced by iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer, the man who has made millions of dollars out of his signature line, “Let’s get ready to rumble”.
Buffer has been pounding the publicity trail this week, helping to bring a little Vegas to Brisvegas. And it is working.
Indeed, this entire week has been a blur of ill-fitting suits, hair dye, gold chains, plastic surgery, bum bags and many, many words, all of it building hype around the unlikely fight between an ageing legend and a quietly spoken teacher who took up boxing as a teenager because he was getting bullied.
