Pacquiao decision correct: judge
The judges of Jeff Horn’s win over Manny Pacquiao got it spot on, according to a respected international judge.
New Zealand’s Ian Scott, who has judged world title fights in the past, said he watched Sunday’s fight at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane live on television and again on replay and came to the same conclusion both times.
‘‘I think Jeff Horn deserved his decision and I would have scored it 115-113,’’ he said.
‘‘He was punching the harder of the two and was much busier.’’
That concurred with how two of the judges scored it at ringside, with the other seeing it 117-111 as Horn won a unanimous decision to claim the WBO World Welterweight title and improve to 17-0-1.
The decision was met with widespread scorn from armchair critics, particularly from the United States.
The judges had Horn dominating the opening seven rounds, before Pacquiao came back strongly and rocked Horn in the ninth, with referee Mark Nelson telling Horn he needed to see more from him in the 10th round otherwise he would stop the fight.
Horn’s father, Jeff senior, was quoted as saying he would have thrown the towel in at that stage if he could, but his son came back out in the 10th round and fought his way back into the fight.
Scott’s pre-fight prediction was for a Pacquiao unanimous points decision, so Horn’s performance surprised him. He put it down as much to Pacquiao’s approach as Horn’s efforts.
‘‘Regardless of how it all went, you shouldn’t take anything away from Jeff Horn. They had a gameplan, they stuck to it.
‘‘But so much rests at the door of the Pacquiao camp. They were just totally dismissive at the weigh-in and the press conference. It was over-confidence bordering on arrogance. They completely underestimated Jeff.’’
Both fighters were a mess after the fight, cut and bloodied from a number of accidental head clashes.
Scott was critical of referee Nelson for letting too much go.
‘‘Horn came in from the opening round with his head, he had his head in Manny Pacquiao’s face right through the fight. Those cuts are caused by head clashes, they’re not caused by punches.
‘‘It wasn’t intentional head work from Jeff Horn, it was just the way he was boring in.
‘‘Obviously the intent was to throw Pacquiao out of his rhythm and basically out-brawl him and that’s exactly what he did. He could then use his height and weight advantage, which he did.
‘‘I would have expected a referee of Mark Nelson’s experience to have pulled both fighters up early and cautioned them on the use of the head. He didn’t do that.’’