THE venue for the highly anticipated all-Australian boxing showdown between Jeff Horn and Tim Tszyu is still up in the air, but Perth is out of the running.
Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton confirmed the news that WA was no longer part of calculations to Community News late Monday.
Last month we reported that Perth was one of the cities being considered for the 10-round, junior middleweight (69.85kg) contest scheduled for April 22.
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READ NOWThe bout needed to get backing from the State Government’s major events team, and it now seems they have decided to spend their money elsewhere.
Horn’s promoter Dean Lonergan had said Perth was one of four venues being considered, along with Brisbane, Melbourne and Townsville.
But it now appears a race between three eastern states cities.
According to Rushton, Townsville’s new North Queensland Stadium, a 25,000-seat venue scheduled to open this month, was one of the facilities being considered.
The bout is one of the most hotly anticipated Australian fights in years, pitting former world champion Horn against Tszyu, the son of boxing legend Kostya Tszyu.
Horn, 32, has lost twice in 23 professional fights, with two of those defeats coming in his last three fights, while 25-year-old Tszyu is unbeaten in 15 bouts.
Horn has fought in Perth once before, taking a unanimous points decision over Naoufel Ben Rabeh at Metro City in his seventh fight.