Pacquiao's Aussie coach says Australians will come in droves for Horn fight

MANILA, Philippines – Justine Fortune, Manny Pacquiao’s Australian strength and conditioning coach, is confident that his countrymen will pack the stadium on July 2 when the Filipino icon faces Brisbane-based Jeff Horn.

“It [Pacquiao-Horn] would be huge,” Fortune told Philstar.com Tuesday when asked how relevant will the fight be Down Under.

“Australia loves boxing,” added the burly coach, who is in town to assist Freddie Roach in getting Pacquiao in shape for his WBO welterweight title defense.

Pacquiao will take on Horn at the 55,000-seat Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and Fortune believes the place will be jam-packed on opening bell.

“That's a sellout,” Fortune continued.

““That's 55,000 people—the biggest crowd he [Pacquiao]'s gonna fight in front of,” he said.

Fortune said the attendance for Pacquiao’s fight with Horn will even eclipse the crowd turnout in his 2010 meeting with Joshua Clottey.

That bout, which ended lopsidedly in favor of Pacquiao, was held at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“Remember Texas against Clottey? That's the biggest [crowd for a Pacquiao fight]. That was about 35,000 people,” Fortune recalled.

Sportsbusinessjournal.com actually reported that the Pacquiao-Clottey tussle drew a paying crowd of 36,371, which translated into gate receipts totaling $6,359,985.

Those numbers, Fortune said, will be inferior once Pacquiao and Horn get it on at Suncorp.