šø Chris Farina
Teddy Atlas wasn’t alone in stating a robbery took place last summer when unheralded Aussie Jeff Horn became the WBO welterweight champion in Brisbane.
Horn was seemingly battered and beaten for at least seven or eight rounds of the fight by Manny Pacquiao, only to have his hand raised in glory to the delight of the crowd.
Rather than seeking a rematch, Pacquiao moved on to allow Terence Crawford the opportunity to add another weight class world title to his impressive C.V
Months on, and Atlas continues with his view that Horn was lucky as ‘The Hornet’ prepares to put his belt on the line for a second time this weekend.
āIāve been in this game for 40 years and I hope the fans can appreciate what I say is not attached to any agendas and not influenced by anything other than my life and experience in this game,” Atlas told foxsports.au.
āThat doesnāt mean Iām right … but have a responsibility to tell the people watching what I believe they should be told. And if that means that somebody got robbed, thatās what Iām supposed to tell them.
āEven though itās not fashionable. Even though itās not popular. Even though the people that hired me, it might not stand well with them.
āI shouldnāt be influenced because I have 50,000 Aussies around me as Iām saying what Iām saying. I shouldnāt be influenced by anything other than what I believe to be the truth.
āI didnāt take anything away from him. He won the title,ā Atlas said.
āAnd saying it with him in the ring … wouldnāt it have been more impolite or incorrect if I stood there after 45 minutes of a broadcast saying that he I thought he lost the fight … and then saying āyou were great congratulations champ?ā
Asked his thoughts on Horn taking on Crawford, Atlas added: āI think Hornās going to get knocked out in about six rounds.
āThe only reason heās going to have a chance to stretch the fight out at all is that Crawford is dealing with the most amount of inactivity in his career ā 10 months.
āThatās probably going to affect him a little bit, at least early on.”
Concluding with Horn’s only possible chance of victory, Atlas believes the current title holder may need to rough up the classy American.
āHorn does go in there with his head, he comes with reckless abandon sometimes (and) all kinds of things can happen in boxing.
āOther than that, man-to-man with everything else being equal, I would be surprised if Horn survives the whole fight,” he added.