Horn confident he can catch Pacquiao like Marquez did

MANILA, Philippines – Australian Jeff Horn is optimistic on his chances to land the fight of his life against Manny Pacquiao.

And he’s equally confident he can defeat the Filipino icon.

In an interview with On The Ropes Boxing Radio, the 28-year-old Horn said he’s aware of Pacquiao’s tendency to run into his opponent’s punches, a result of the fighting senator’s aggressiveness.

Horn said he will capitalize on it the way Juan Manuel Marquez did in 2012 when the Mexican knocked Pacquiao out cold with a perfectly timed counter right straight.

"Manny Pacquiao’s weakness is that he does jump around a bit too much, even though that’s a strength as well, he’s hard to hit,” said Horn.

“When he does get hit and he goes the wrong way, he runs into it like he did with Marquez. I’m hoping to be able to time him well and make him run into one of my punches which would double the power and hopefully put a stop to Pacquiao," he added.

Horn has shot atop the list of Pacquiao’s next opponents amid Top Rank Inc. boss Bob Arum’s plan to stage the Filipino’s first bout of the year outside the United States. Arum is looking at Australia, leading the Brisbane-based Horn as a likely candidate.

Horn said his camp is in the US now to sit down with Arum and try to finalize the fight, which is reportedly slated April 22, with Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane as a possible venue.

But this early, Horn vowed to already know the best way to soundly defeat Pacquiao – which would be to try and knock him out with a counter.

"I’ve fought all over the world and I’ve had a lot of fights against some top fighters. I think I’ve got the skills. I see myself beating Pacquiao and I think I definitely got the power. If I land on Pacquiao especially when he’s coming forward into me, I could hurt him,” he explained.

“Always your best chance of winning against a super champion like Pacquiao is to stop them, but it would definitely be a close fight on points. Stopping him would be the way to go at it."