Jeff who? Jeff Horn.
That's right, Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao will defend the welterweight world title he regained in November by easily outpointing Jessie Vargas when he takes on Horn in the main event of the "Battle of Brisbane" on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN Deportes, broadcast not available in Australia) at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Horn may not be known to many outside of his home country of Australia, but this will be the biggest crowd Pacquiao has ever fought in front of during a storied career in which he became a global star and won world titles in a record eight classes.
Pacquiao once fought in front of 50,994 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, when he beat Joshua Clottey in a 2010 welterweight title defense, but there will be upward of 60,000 at Suncorp Stadium, where organizers received a permit from the local government to increase capacity for the fight. Most in attendance will be rooting for Brisbane's own Horn, a 2012 Australian Olympian with a thin résumé but a reputation for having a big heart and brawling, crowd-pleasing style.
It is viewed by most as the biggest boxing event in Australian history. The fight, which is being bankrolled largely by the Queensland government, will take place in the Sunday morning hours Australian time to accommodate the live Saturday night ESPN telecast in the United States. This is Pacquiao's first non-pay-per-view bout since he knocked out Hector Velazquez in a junior lightweight fight -- four divisions ago -- on HBO in September 2005.
"There is tremendous excitement for this fight -- it is something really special," said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who has been in Brisbane all week. "The whole country has caught on. Every newspaper, front page, back page, all over the television. The country has really embraced this event."
Horn may be a serious underdog, but, as Arum has been saying, at least nobody has to go into their pocket and pay extra to see Pacquiao. That is a treat no matter whom the future Hall of Famer is fighting as he winds down his legendary career at age 38.
This is your ESPN.com Ringside Seat for the fight:
Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) vs. Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs)
What's at stake
Pacquiao lost his welterweight title by clear decision to Floyd Mayweather in their 2015 megafight that failed to come close to living up to the hype. But Pacquiao took 11 months off after that fight and has fought twice since. He looked superb in both fights last year as he easily dropped Timothy Bradley Jr. twice in a clear decision and then dropped Vargas once and won back the belt Mayweather had vacated.
So while Pacquiao will look to retain the title, he will also aim to show the world that even at his age and with the numerous distractions of his job in the senate, he is still a force to be reckoned with. However, if Pacquiao doesn't take out the untested Horn, a former school teacher, in relatively easy fashion, there will be those who pronounce Pacquiao a faded fighter.
Pacquiao, of course, and trainer Freddie Roach don't see it that way at all, believing he still has a lot left in the tank even though Horn and his trainer, Glenn Rushton, have said they don't think Pacquiao has been the same fighter since suffering a brutal sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth fight in 2012.
"For me I am still the same -- I am still a boxer -- and I disagree," Pacquiao said.
Added Roach, "The Marquez punch, Manny stepped into that right hand and I think since that fight he has fought wonderful. That fight was so long ago to me and since then Manny has been ready for every fight and we waited for Marquez to give us a rematch and he wouldn't give us one, so we are on with Jeff Horn right now."
For Horn -- who has not done anything to warrant his status as Pacquiao's mandatory challenger -- the fight is a chance to change his life, win a title and perhaps send Pacquiao into retirement if he can find his "Rocky" moment.
Whether he can do that or not remains to be seen, but he and Rushton sound filled with confidence.
"I think I have a style that Pacquiao has not fought before," Horn said, even though that is a surprising thought given the massive experience Pacquiao has against the best fighters of his generation. "I think he is going to struggle with my style. I am bigger than him. He may be faster than me but I am pretty quick as well. I could hit him with the right shot and nobody knows what could happen."
Rushton has talked about a secretive "10-point plan" to secure the victory.
"I can't elaborate too much on the 10-point-plan -- it is very much a secret, but we are exceptionally confident that if Jeff follows that 10-point-plan, he will emerge victorious," Rushton said. "He has trained incredibly hard and he is as fit as he has ever been. He is injury-free. His jaw is tough. His heart is as big as Suncorp Stadium, and he is technically very proficient, so it is going to be one heck of a fight come Saturday night over there (in the U.S.) and Sunday afternoon over here. I think the crowd is going to be shocked as to how good a fighter Jeff is. I think some have thought this will be a relatively easy fight for Manny Pacquiao and that certainly won't be the case. We are looking forward to the biggest boxing event is Australian history."
Pacquiao by knockout?
Pacquiao hasn't had a knockout since his 2009 demolition of Miguel Cotto to win his first welterweight title, but he has scored many knockdowns since. Horn, inarguably his most nondescript opponent in years, could put Pacquiao back in the KO column.
"Freddie and I work to focus on the knockout but we don't know if it will come but we prepare for safety first and defense and not being careless and doing our job," Pacquiao said. "If the knockout comes it will come and if I have the chance to knock him out I will grab that opportunity."
Roach, as he usually does, is predicting a Pacquiao knockout.
"Manny is in great shape," Roach said. "He doesn't like to predict knockouts, but I do. It's going to be short and sweet. If Horn comes out like he says he's going to, Manny will fire back. I think it's going to be a great fight but it won't last too long -- someone will get knocked out. The thing is, in sparring, we haven't had knockdowns and knockouts in a long time. This time we did. Manny has been his old self, having fun and doing what he does best."
Pacquiao looked disinterested in the fight at the final prefight news conference earlier this week, spending most of the time fiddling with his phone. He also sounded as though he was half asleep during a teleconference with American media.
So how does Roach get Pacquiao up for an opponent many believe is cannon fodder?
"One thing about Manny, we don't take anyone lightly," Roach said. "(Horn) is not that well known but he does have 16 wins and he has fought a couple of names out there, but again, we get ready for everyone and we are in great shape for this fight as we would be for anybody else in the world."
Horn steps up
Horn's résumé is weak. His two most notable wins are the KO of Ali Funeka, who was at his best as a lightweight but lost title fights to Nate Campbell and Joan Guzman nearly a decade ago, and a seventh-round knockout earlier in 2016 against long-faded former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist Randall Bailey.
Horn, though confident, admitted Pacquiao was a huge step up.
"Yes this is definitely jumping a few steps at a time," he said. "I have fought some tough guys -- some high-level competition, but Manny Pacquiao has that legendary status."
Rushton said the step up in competition is because they have not been able to get other top opponents to face Horn.
"It is a step up but you've got to understand we can only fight the toughest guys we can get hold of," Rushton said. "I spoke to Duco's matchmaker and I said, 'Jeff is legit and I want to go up against world-class opponents.' The matchmaker thought I was crazy. He said most trainers don't want to fight anyone that's got a pulse and you want to fight all of these really tough guys. I said there is a reason for that I'm trying to put Jeff up against a tough opponent as I can so I can harden him for days when we get an opportunity against a Manny Pacquiao.
"I want him to be ready to fight against the toughest guys. Of course, along the way we would have loved to fight a Jessie Vargas or a Tim Bradley, but in this game those guys are going to say, 'What's the upside for me?' So we fought the toughest people we can and Jeff has risen because of that to become the No. 1 contender, so he is in this position and a lot of people are saying that and after this fight everyone will know who Jeff Horn is."
Dream come true
Horn was handpicked by Arum to be Pacquiao's opponent, which stunned the fighter and trainer.
"Yes, it was very unexpected," Horn said. "I actually couldn't believe it when I got it but I was thankful that I got it and I jumped at it and said I'll do it. I said yes, but then I heard it was going to be at Suncorp, it has been more than my dream come true -- a world-title shot against Pacquiao in my hometown."
Said Rushton: "When we sat down with Dean Lonergan of Duco Events, our promoter, I said, 'Dean, I envision Jeff Horn fighting at Suncorp Stadium for a world title in front of full house. That's my dream. I envisioned it.' I said, 'Can you see that?' And he gulped a little bit and said, 'Well, yes, I suppose I could see that.' So he slowly bought into that dream. It's a dream that I have had and it felt right. It felt like everything deserved to be. I have always believed this would happen. We are very pleased with it and looking very much forward to seeing this turn into an historic event."
Arum first saw Horn fight when he defeated Funeka by sixth-round knockout in December in New Zealand on the undercard of the heavyweight title fight between Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr., which Arum co-promoted. When the possibility of staging a Pacquiao fight in Australia came up, he said Horn was the right opponent.
"This is not a case where my matchmakers picked out a fighter and put him in a fight," Arum said. "This is a case where I saw the kid fight myself in New Zealand. I'm telling you this kid can fight, he's a strong kid and he's gonna give Manny a run for his money.
"Is he necessarily gonna beat Manny? No, but he will make it a very, very competitive fight. Now I didn't have to say this, so it's on me, that the results of this fight and how it turns out is not on (Top Rank matchmaker) Bruce Trampler, it's not on (Top Rank matchmaker) Brad Goodman. It's on Bob Arum, because I believe that Jeff Horn is competitive, very competitive, with Manny Pacquiao and it'll be a hell of a fight."
Key stats:
--Pacquiao: 59-6-2 (38 KO); WBO world welterweight titleholder; 17-3-2 (8 KO) in world-title fights; 8-2 as a welterweight
--Pacquiao: Landed 42 percent of power punches per round in last five fights, according to CompuBox
--Pacquiao: 12 consecutive fights without a KO (Miguel Cotto, November 2009), longest streak of his career
--Horn: 16-0-1 (11 KO); first career world-title fight; three straight wins by KO, 6 KO in last 10 fights
--Horn: Has been knocked down in two of his last three fights (won both by TKO); coming off career-long layoff (204 days)
--Horn: Outlanded last four opponents 21-8 in punches per round, according to CompuBox
Dan Rafael's prediction: Pacquiao by sixth-round knockout.
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