WBO declare Horn the clear winner after review

SYDNEY: Australian Jeff Horn’s shock welterweight title victory over Manny Pacquiao was confirmed after a scoring review by the World Boxing Organisation declared him the clear winner.

The WBO took a close look at the fight after Pacquiao, backed by the Philippine government’s sports regulatory body, criticised the referee and the judges and demanded a review after losing in Brisbane on July 2.

Horn stunned the Filipino leg- end – who has won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions – with his ultra-aggressiveness to earn a unanimous 12-round decision.

The WBO – which do not have the power to reverse a decision unless fraud or law violations are proven – set up a panel of independent and anonymous judges who were asked to watch the bout without sound and determine who won each round.

The results were tabulated to show clearly the rounds each fighter won using an average scale based on 60, 80 and 100%, with three of the five officials needing to be in agreement.

A similar method has been used to review WBO title fights before.

“Upon the analysis, the findings stated that Pacquiao won the 3rd, the 8th and 9th by 100%; the 5th round was won by 80%; and the 11th round by 60%,” the WBO said in a statement.

“Horn won the 1st, 6th and 12th rounds by 100%; rounds 2, 4, and 7 by 80%; and then, the 10th round by 60%.

“From the results, it can be established that Pacquiao won five rounds while Horn won seven rounds.

“Based on this analysis, Jeff Horn was the winner of the bout.”

The original fight was scored 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 by judges Waleksa Roldan, Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan respectively. – AFP