Boxing's Cinderella Man and Brisbane, Australia’s favorite son, Jeff “The Hornet” Horn, returns to the ring in the first defense of the world title he won off the legendary Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) will be risking his newly-minted World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown against Top-10 contender Gary “Hellraiser” Corcoran (17-1, 7 KOs), of London. It will be the Brit's first fight outside the United Kingdom. Promoted by Duco Events and Top Rank, the Horn vs. Corcoran world welterweight championship fight will take place Tomorrow! Wednesday, December 13, at the Brisbane Convention Centre and will be televised live and exclusively at 6:30 a.m. EST on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. ESPN2 will air a prime time same-day replay at 9:30 p.m. EST.
Horn, a former high school physical education teacher and 2012 Olympian, captured the world's imagination when he upset the heavily favored Pacquiao, boxing's only eight-division world champion, winning a gritty unanimous decision in front of over 51,000 fans at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on July 1. Horn, a 12-to-1 underdog, didn't let the moment or Pacquiao intimidate him. He pressured the defending champion and backed him up throughout the 12 grueling and exciting rounds. In addition to becoming a world champion Horn also became the toast of two continents.
ESPN’s live telecast of the July 1 Pacquiao vs. Horn world championship event (10 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET) averaged a 1.6 household rating and 2,812,000 viewers, making it the highest-rated and most-watched boxing telecast on cable TV since 2006 and ESPN’s highest-rated boxing telecast since 1995. “The Battle of Brisbane” was also the highest-rated boxing telecast on ESPN’s networks since 1995.
The WBO World Welterweight Championship main event between Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) and Horn (midnight to 1 a.m. ET) peaked during the final half hour of their fight with 4.4 million viewers across both networks.
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