WBO review finds Jeff Horn deserved win over Manny Pacquiao

Jeff Horn celebrates his huge upset victory over Manny Pacquiao.

Jul

Perhaps now the controversy in the aftermath of Jeff Horn’s surprising decision win over Manny Pacquiao can be put to rest.

The WBO welterweight title was up for grabs, and following the outcry of robbery, the sanctioning body conducted an independent review of the bout. Five judges from different countries scored the fight with the sound of the telecast off, and on Monday, those results were revealed.

The winner in the five judges’ eyes? Horn, by the tally of 115-113, or seven rounds to five.

All five anonymous judges scored rounds 3, 8 and 9 for Pacquiao. “Pacman” also won the 5th round in the eyes of four judges, and the 11th round on three scorecards.

Horn won rounds 1, 6 and 12 on all five scorecards; rounds 2, 4 and 7 on four cards, and then three of those judges gave Round 3 to the Aussie.

“The Jeff Horn vs. Manny Pacquiao bout results were controversial causing disputes amongst fans,” a statement released by the WBO read. “For this reason, transparency is so important. The WBO does not have power to reverse the judges’ decision based on discretion as it can only be revoked when fraud or a violation of Law has occurred, which is not relevant in this case.”

RingTV.com also re-watched the bout, and scored it for Pacquiao, 116-112, or eight rounds to four. The fight clearly could have gone either way, though.

In all, there were only three clear rounds: Round 1 to Horn, Round 6 to Horn (Pacquiao was buzzed) and Round 9 to Pacquiao, the frame in which the fight was almost stopped.

There was a rematch clause in the contract, so it’s possible the controversy will be cleared up in the ring later this year.

But until then, Horn can rest easy with the knowledge that despite Teddy Atlas’ cries of robbery, the result was no such thing.

Mike Coppinger is the Senior Writer for RingTV.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger