Former world welterweight champion Jeff Horn is expecting Michael Zerafa to crumble under the pressure of fighting on a big stage, when the two square off at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night.
Horn (19-1-1, 13 KOs) has no shortage of big fight experience having famously defeated Manny Pacquiao in front of a packed Suncorp Stadium in 2017. He then travelled to Las Vegas and fought Terence Crawford, the world's number one pound-for-pound boxer, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
While little known Zerafa (26-3, 15 KOs) may have plenty of experience for a 27-year-old, he's never had so much attention surrounding one of his fights, and Horn expects that to play right into his hands.
"Michael doesn't handle the pressure too good," Horn said. "In the [Peter] Quillin fight you could see that. He didn't handle it very well and actually got stopped by him in the end.
"I think the pressure does get to him and I think if I can sustain pressure on him over the 10 rounds then he's going to suffer from it. I don't like to predict knockouts but I do like an early night."
Earlier in the month Zerafa fired a shot at Horn when he claimed he had already fought bigger and better names than the 31-year-old Queenslander.
Horn says the comments were disrespectful and that Zerafa will be in for a surprise if he thinks he's in for an easy night.
"He's just entered into the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings in Australia and I think it's a bit harsh of him, when I'm ranked No. 1, to say that I'm not a very good boxer at all," Horn said. "He wants to be world champion himself and he thinks I'm one of the weakest world champions that there's ever been. He's hungry for it at the moment and he wants to stop me in my tracks.
"It's Michael's style to talk someone down, but I'd rather talk someone up and then beat him. That's a bit better. I'm hungry to silence my critics and Michael is definitely one of those."
The Battle of Bendigo will be Horn's first fight since knocking out Australian veteran Anthony Mundine in December last year. He was slated to fight Japanese middleweight Ryota Murata in Tokyo, but opted to withdraw with wife Jo expecting the birth of their second child. While the pair never agreed on a new date, Horn believes a dominant win over Zerafa could lead to one being penciled in.
"There's a fight in Japan which is being offered in late December and that's for a world middleweight title," Horn said. "That's there for me if I win this and win it convincingly. That's the aim.
"There's a lot at stake in this one. There's millions of dollars up for grabs."