Jeff Horn’s journey from a timid, bullied teenager to an international lord of the boxing ring reads like the script of a feel-good blockbuster movie.
His unlikely transformation from a nervous, “nerdy little kid” into a World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion is legendary in Australian sport.
On a winter’s day in Brisbane in 2017 the man dubbed the baby-faced assassin beat Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao to win the world title at Lang Park, a venue fittingly also known as “The Cauldron”.
Pacquiao has his own remarkable story on the road to boxing glory, growing up in poverty, at times having to sleep rough.
He’s collected more than $500 million in a celebrated career, the only boxer in history to have won 12 major world titles in eight different weight divisions.
Nicknamed Pac-Man, Pacquiao is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, but on July 2 six years ago, in what was hailed the Battle of Brisbane, Horn proved his nemesis in a controversial points decision.
The upset victory made “the Hornet” a household name in Australia and captured people’s imaginations. Here was a mild-mannered schoolteacher, a Clark Kent-type character without the dark-rimmed glasses, who had become superman in the ring.
At the time, Horn says, he couldn’t go for a reflective walk in a rainforest without worrying he would be recognised.
“It was hard to handle,” he says.
“You just want to be a hermit and close yourself in. I didn’t like the constant barrage that I would get.
“I’m very comfortable these days just being a dad. I’m like everyone else. I don’t feel like I’m different. I’ve just done something extraordinary in the past but sometimes I forget about that too.”
Horn sits in his Brisbane home and reflects on his boxing career just a couple of months into his retirement from the sport. He grins as he speaks about his metamorphosis from shy schoolboy to sports star.
“It’s crazy thinking back to me at high school, and to primary school as well and then to thinking what I’ve done now in the boxing ring and the boxing world,” he says.
“It’s just amazing. I guess I’m top of the world. It’s an incredible story.”
‘I had bad thoughts about myself’
Remembering his days at MacGregor State High School, in Brisbane’s south-east, the 35-year-old talks about his talent for sport – soccer and athletics, not boxing in those days. That would come later.
He was the school’s age champion in athletics, a virtuoso of the track.
But he was not a champion in his own mind.
“The bullies gave me names and things like that,” he says. “You start questioning yourself and going: ‘Am I really this bad of a person? Why is a person treating me like this? Why is this person attacking me?’
“I am very confident now, but back at school, when the bullying was at its rife stage, I was definitely weak at that point. I had bad thoughts about myself.”
Horn has never encountered the bullies that gave him the most trouble at school again.
Talking about them these days, he bears no ill feelings, speculating they had their own confidence issues.
“I guess it’s made me grow as a human being,” Horn says, philosophically.
“I was a pretty nervous kind of kid, and I can remember getting put down and it was probably to make them feel a little bit better because maybe that was happening to them.
“There are some things I think about back at school I wish I could have changed.
“I think there’s definitely strategies that could have been used by myself that could have de-escalated the situation. Walking away, ignoring what’s being said about you, just being the bigger person.”
New beginning
It’s a lesson the former schoolteacher imparts as part of his work visiting schools as an ambassador for Bullyproof Australia, a registered charity he founded with his boxing trainer Glenn Rushton and martial arts veteran, Frank Mechler.
Rather than sparring in the boxing ring, it’s resilience they teach.
Horn is hoping to build that resilience in his three daughters, all born after his world title win over Pacquiao – Isabelle, 5, Charlotte, 4, and Elizabeth, 18 months.
Inside the family’s Brisbane home, photos of Horn’s 2014 wedding to his teenage sweetheart Jo, and of their children, adorn the walls.
In a display cabinet in the living area, there are two small photos of his Pacquiao triumph – one of Horn grinning after the victory, the other in full flight, his right arm extended, landing a blow on his opponent’s face.
On a shelf above those world title photos are a set of Jo’s Harry Potter books and on the shelf below, a sign that reads: “Every love story is beautiful. Ours is my favourite.”
It’s only in Horn’s study that his boxing career is laid bare.
A framed poster screams “Horn Rules the World” from one of the walls.
Here also sits his “Don” award, the trophy named after cricketing great Sir Donald Bradman, as the athlete to have most inspired Australia in 2017.
Next to it is the trophy from his first boxing win at the Acacia Ridge Hotel, in Brisbane’s south, a title known as the “Rumble at the Ridge”.
Boxing behind the Brisbane battler
After he reminisces about his stellar boxing career, Horn stretches a rubber band between his fingers, performing simple magic tricks he’s starting to teach eldest daughter, Isabelle.
“Being a dad is the best thing in the world for me,” he says.
“Having children is definitely more important to me than my boxing career.
“I just love that love that my kids give me back – the cuddles, the kisses, reading bedtime stories.”
The family’s dogs – Lexi, a blue Staffordshire terrier, and Olive, a chihuahua cross mini foxy – sit at his feet as he discusses life after professional boxing.
Nowadays, he boxes only to keep fit.
“I do a little bit of boxing, no contact,” he says.
“I’ve been hit in the head many times in my career and that’s probably a main reason for me to stop.
“I did have some check-ups. I was told that my memory was not on par for my age bracket. It’s not something you can fix. I don’t want to get worse.”
His focus now is on his anti-bullying program in schools.
He repeats the Bullyproof Australia mantra: “Every student, every teacher, every school, everywhere.”
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