Andrew McCullough chats with WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn about the upcoming Terence Crawford title fight, his trainer’s mansion and how Jeff chose boxing over rugby league.

0:33: I’m an underdog for this one but that’s a position I like to be in … I’m always tired at the moment. The baby has just come and now with this heavy training picking up … it’s tough yards …

2:35: It’s hard to say I’m glad that it happened (being bullied) but it did make me who I am today. If I didn’t have those challenges back then, I probably would never have turned to boxing …

3:35: We weren’t expecting to see a mansion like that (at trainer Glenn Rushton’s gym), with the dolphins out front and the massive pillars, the U-shaped driveway going through and the electric gates …

4:12: I’d just turned 18 and my missus had just turned 18 and we loved going out to the clubs … I remember thinking if I get into trouble, I’m going to need to know how to handle myself …

5:35: When I told him (Glenn) I’d probably want to go to rugby league … I potentially had this option to try and make a high team here (in Brisbane) or attempt boxing … It didn’t matter who ran at me back in the day, I’d be able to take them down even if I was just hanging onto their ankles …

6:50: She (wife Jo) kind of supported me at times, when I hardly had any money coming in. I used to work at childcare centres and it wasn’t massive money … I’ve always loved hanging out with kids. They love doing what I do and that’s playing games …

7:52: I had two frames of mind. I always had that back up with teaching if it didn’t work out … But I always pictured myself as world champion … you just don’t picture what it comes with …

8:39: The only comparison I have (to the atmosphere at the Pacquiao fight) is at the Olympic Games … other than that there has pretty much been nothing in comparison …

9:12: After I’ve made weight I like having a game of poker or something with the team and after that I have a nice big pasta meal to carb load for the next day … I try and get nine hours sleep, at least, and then have a good-sized breakfast: eggs, avocado, baked beans …

10:30: These days, instead of using the sauna (to cut weight) I do sweat sessions the night before in the plastic suit, where I do a bit of skipping, a bit of shadow boxing and a bit of pads with the trainer. That loses me a couple of kilos … the next morning I wake up, have hardly anything to eat and have a hot bath, as hot as I can handle … and that strips another two kilos, easy, off me …

11:25: It’s probably a good thing I didn’t make rugby league because I hate the running that I do …

12:09: You’re trying to push it (sparring) to the intensity of a fight but you can never match that intensity … It’s tricky getting the right sparring partners …

13:07: I’ve had cuts before fights and that’s really frustrating because you know it’s going to be a target come fight time … the worst one I’ve had (injury) was outside the Randall Bailey fight a couple of years ago when I got punched in the throat and that fractured my larynx … that was probably a month out from that fight … I was going up against him with a dodgy throat …

14:20: I try and give more time because I want to be around her (daughter Isabelle) … If I’ve been at training for a few hours I’m looking forward to going home and seeing them again and giving her (Isabelle) a cuddle, having bath time and putting her to sleep …

16:02: (Becoming a father) has definitely made me more hungry to know what I want in life is to definitely succeed and to be able to support her and my wife and to make sure we have an awesome time together …

16:18: I’d always kind of dreamt that my world title fight, I’d get a shot over in America, in Vegas or something but to get it at Suncorp in Brisbane was crazy enough. It blew my mind to be able to fight for the world title here and win it …

17:30: It’s always fun to try and think of little smart things using their name or something they’ve said against them but I’m not very good at it …

18:02: (Being an underdog) gives me a drive to prove people wrong. I really wanted to prove people wrong with the Manny Pacquiao one. I didn’t have those pressures in the Corcoran fight and I felt I fought a little bit worse than what I normally do but now with all that pressure back on me again for this Crawford one, and I’m expected to lose, I’m really hungry to go, ‘OK guys, we’ll prove you wrong again’ …

19:05: I feel like the hunted all the time now that I’ve got this belt. Someone just wants to take it off me all the time and that’s the way it’s going to be. My main goal is to get all the belts if I can …

Andrew McCullough is entering his 11th season with the Brisbane Broncos … and his first as a podcast host. Since suffering a season-ending ACL injury last year, McCullough has been reading books on sports psychology and leadership. His aim is to continue that learning process via the Front-Row Seat podcast, where he will sit down with some of the leading athletes in Australian sport to find out what makes them tick.