A STAR IS HORN
Aussie underdog sends world champ ‘pacquing’
IN BRISBANE THE Battle of Brisbane is set for a sequel with Top Rank supremo Bob Arum revealing Suncorp Stadium is the likely destination for a rematch between Jeff Horn and Manny Pacquiao.
Horn’s contentious WBO welterweight championship victory over Pacquiao yesterday has opened up a world of possibilities for the softly spoken former schoolteacher.
What happens next depends largely on whether Pacquiao, 38, wants to continue boxing after suffering his seventh defeat – or if he wants to focus on life as a senator in the Philippines.
Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium has been talked about as a possible venue for a rematch, as has Pacquiao’s home country.
MANNY Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach has called for judge Waleska Roldan to be investigated after her controversial scoring in Jeff Horn’s unanimous decision over the Filipino great.
Roldan scored the bout 117-111 to Horn, scoring only three rounds to Pacquiao despite him landing 182 punches to Horn’s 92, according to CompuBox.
“That was hard, sometimes I think people need to be investigated,” Roach said.
“At least in America where you get odd scores like that with the judges, the head commissioner should ask at some point, ‘Why? Where? Show me how you came up with that score’.”
Judges Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan both scored the bout 115-113 in favour of Horn.
Roach also took aim at the refereeing of Mark Nelson in the ring.
“You have to think about him refereeing more fights or not, he’s maybe just not doing a good job,” Roach said.
“That is a WBO concern. I think they should do something about it, but I don’t think they ever will. The wrestling, getting hit behind the head a lot, it didn’t look good, but the referee didn’t pay any attention to it.
“I don’t know how he let a professional fighter get away with things like that. If you end up in a headlock after every exchange, someone is doing something wrong.”
A string of celebrities including Kobe Bryant, Samuel L Jackson, Aaron Rodgers and Lennox Lewis expressed their disgust at the decision on social media.
Respected boxing commentator Teddy Atlas, who was calling the fight ringside, was livid.
“They gave a trophy, a win, a huge win, to Horn, the local kid, for trying hard,” Atlas said.
“You’re not supposed to get it for trying hard, you’re supposed to get it for winning and I thought Pacquiao won the fight.
“If you go by the real rules, the Marquess of Queensberry rules, who lands the cleaner punches?”
CompuBox had Pacquiao outlanding Horn in 11 of the 12 rounds, which included 32 per cent of his total 573 punches thrown.
In contrast, 625 punches were thrown by Horn, most of which CompuBox deemed not to have landed cleanly.
“I was happy that I won the fight, especially unanimously,” Horn said.
“I wasn’t really surprised [at the decision]. I was going back to the corner and they were letting me know I was winning the majority of the rounds.”
Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton said: “Going into the 11th round I said to Jeff, ‘this fight is close, either you’re in front by one round or it’s five-all. It’s close, we really need you to bring it home hard here Jeff’.”
But by then Roldan already had Horn holding an unassailable 97-93 win, meaning Pacquiao needed a knockout in the final two rounds in her books.
Roach will now assess what the future holds for his fighter, including the possibility of retirement.
“I’m going to talk to Manny about maybe calling it a day. Maybe this is it,” Roach said.
“It depends what I see when I analyse the fight again.”