By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn and his management have agreed to defend against WBO mandatory challenger Terrence Crawford according to Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton who told AAP he was satisfied with the renegotiated purse and said all there was left to do was sign the contracts.”As far as we’re concerned, it’s pretty much a deal,” Rushton said. “But no deal’s done until it’s done, so we just have to cross t’s, dot i’s and actually get this thing locked down.

“We have certainly agreed on all the key terms and from our side, it’s a go. Now Bob (Arum)’s got to tidy up some loose ends. We have total confidence in Bob and Top Rank that he’ll get this all locked up and we’ll have a contract in our hands by the end of next week.”

Horn was toying with the offer of AUD$2 million to fight former WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine but decided against it. ”We weren’t saying no but there’s too many ifs,” Rushton said. “What if Mundine loses to Tommy Browne (on January 17). What if he gets injured? What if he doesn’t come up with the money? What if he doesn’t withstand the preparation? Then we’ve missed the opportunity with Crawford.”