The Hornet by Jeff Horn

Author:Jeff Horn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-10-23T04:00:00+00:00

Guess what? There was nothing to worry about. The surgery was a complete success. I had a 1-centimetre piece of expensive metal inserted in my throat to guard my larynx and my voice returned to normal. This may or may not be a good thing since I always think I sound like a twelve-year-old kid when I hear some of my interviews played back. I wouldn’t have minded a bit of sandpaper in the tone.

Bailey told American reporters that he was coming to Australia to knock me out and suggested I was more Milky Bar Kid than Mike Tyson. He said it was business and not personal and that, while we might be Facebook friends, he would be a deadly enemy in the ring. As much as I didn’t like to dwell on the piece of titanium sitting under the purple horizontal scar on my windpipe, I knew it would be like a flashing bullseye for Bailey, who was being billed as one of the most dangerous fighters ever to hit Brisbane.

The training for the fight now began in earnest, although Glenn insisted that I was never to spar again without him being there. I was only able to resume sparring on 1 April and would have liked an extra week of hard work to prepare, although Matt Burgoyne, Mark Gadaleta, Todd Kidd, Ben Kite and Richard Smith all gave me hard sparring. I received a boost for the fight when the IBF bumped me up to No. 5 in the world behind their welterweight champ, Kell Brook of England.

Bailey arrived in Brisbane with a head of steam. Six days before we were due to fight, we held separate training sessions in a specially erected ring in the Queen Street Mall. When we were asked to pose for the camera together, he got right up in my face and held his big fist against my chin. I didn’t say anything to him because I wanted my fists to do the talking. Jeff Fenech warned me that I risked disaster and that I had to fight ‘smart, not brave’, that a toe-to-toe firefight could blow up in my face. Or my throat. Fenech told an interviewer, ‘Jeff Horn is a fantastic prospect. He likes to mix it up with his opponents and that makes for exciting fights but he doesn’t need to take those risks to win big. He’s a very intelligent boxer, he has a great eye, great reflexes, fantastic timing. I’d hate to see him come undone by making a mistake against a guy who can really punch.’

Glenn and I knew that controlling the distance against Bailey was the key, that I had to stay busy in the ring, keep him off balance, and that when I finished an exchange I couldn’t give him a single opportunity to counter.

On the eve of the fight Bailey gave an interview to The Courier-Mail. Small beads of sweat snaked down his long, straggly goatee as ‘The Knockout King’ talked about drugs, guns, prison and a manic life far removed from the suburban niceties that cosseted my upbringing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.