Jeff Horn 18-1-1 (12) has admitted his days as a welterweight could be numbered ahead of his 156.5 pound catchweight bout against Anthony Mundine 48-8 (28) at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on November 30.
The Horn-Mundine bout was signed-off on this week when the Queensland state government agreed to contribute $1.5 million to the fight.
Last year the Annastacia Palaszczuk-led Labor government tipped in a reported $5 million to secure the WBO welterweight world title fight between challenger Horn and champion Manny Pacquiao at the same venue, drawing a live gate of over 51,000 people.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald this week, the former WBO welterweight champion said that the final decision will ultimately rest on what opportunities are available in both weight classes.
“At the moment it’s just whatever opportunity comes up,” said Horn. “If moving up to super welter is a division where there are more opportunities, so be it. I can fight at welterweight and I can fight at super welterweight.”
In June the ‘Fighting Schoolteacher’ failed to make weight on his first trip to the scales ahead of his world title defence against former lightweight and junior welterweight world champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 33-0 (24). Horn returned later to make the 147-pound weight limit but lost his title the following night by TKO9 in a one-sided fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada after failing to win a single round.
Horn, who turned 30 in February, admitted it is getting more difficult to shed the pounds the older he gets.
“It is [harder],” he said. “Going over 30 [years of age], the body starts to put on the weight. I’ve been told it so many times before and now it’s starting to happen to me. I can easily put on weight and it’s harder to get it back off. Maybe staying at the higher weight, depending how I feel in this fight, may be the smartest move.”
Horn says he is already noticing the difference in training as he prepares to fight at the highest weight of his professional career.
“Already, hitting the bag now at a relaxed weight, I feel like the power has gone up significantly,” he said. “Because I don’t have to cut as much weight, my fitness won’t be impacted for having had to cut weight the day before.”
Horn’s heaviest weight for a fight was 151½lb when he stopped journeyman Aswin Cabuy in the second round of his sixth pro fight in November 2013.
 has admitted his days as a welterweight could be numbered ahead of his 156.5 pound catchweight bout against Anthony Mundine 48-8 (28) at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on November 30.){kind=link}