Manny Pacquiao has announced he’s ready to rumble ahead of the July 2 defense of his WBO welterweight crown, while challenger Jeff Horn continued to punish himself in training.
Needless to say, Pacquiao has started to taper off; but it would not be fair to state that Horn has been cramming to catch up.
In fact, his chief handler, Glenn Rushton, claimed they’re in the process of perfecting a 10-point blueprint designed to upset the heavily favored fighting senator from the Philippines.
It’s like this. Over the weekend, Rushton announced that Horn would get Pacquiao with a shock shot anchored on “broken rhythm pressure.”
On Monday, without necessarily making a turnaround, Rushton said they would no longer rush and push in trying to knock Pacquiao’s head off.
“Jeff has to wait for his chance. We will take advantage of Pacquiao’s weakness in defense,” Rushton said. He explained that guys who had beaten Pacquiao, like Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr., made good use of their wisdom and experience to defeat Pacquiao.
The way Rushton sounded, it would appear that Horn was close to setting up a perfect arsenal to beat Pacquiao.
Just great, but what has curiously been overlooked or left out was Horn’s armory—his defense.
They would pounce on Pacquiao’s defense; but, so far, Horn, stiff neck and predictable head, has not given a hint on how he plans to offset Pacquiao’s vast edge in speed and experience.
Maybe Team Horn also has a great defensive plot, but has decided to momentary keep this under wraps.
Maybe they have a secret on how to close the windows once Pacquiao comes blazing in with his fabulous unorthodox offensive.
Horn’s handlers have all the right not to include defense in their title bout blueprint, but here’s hoping they would be prepared and ready to help their boy come fight time.