Pacquiao wants WBO to review Horn decision results

By Boxing News - 07/05/2017 - Comments

Image: Pacquiao wants WBO to review Horn decision results

By Allan Fox: Manny Pacquiao wants the World Boxing Organization to review his highly questionable 12 round unanimous decision loss to Jeff Horn from last week in their fight in Brisbane, Australia. Pacquiao wants the WBO to review the officials as well as the decision.

Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) fought well enough to win the fight view of the boxing world, but he found himself losing by the scores 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113.

It doesn’t appear that the WBO will do anything to overturn Pacquiao’s loss to the 29-year-old Horn. The best that Pacquiao can hope for is an immediate rematch, which would likely place in Australia once again.

Pacquiao will have to take the risk of being in the same position he is in now if he chooses to take the fight. Pacquiao has already said that he would like a rematch with Horn. However, Pacquiao also said that he wants to think hard about his next career move. It’s still not definite that Pacquiao will continue his career.

Pacquiao fighting on the road against unproven fighters like Horn is kind of hard to believe. He’s still good enough to fight the best. Horn, despite his win, doesn’t look like the best at 147. Horn looked heavy for the welterweight class, and he used a number of tactics – holding, headlocks and pushing – to help beat Pacquiao. The referee wasn’t much help to Pacquiao, as he chose to let the fight play out without addressing Horn’s physical tactics.

“The discretion of a referee or judge cannot be reversed, except in a case of fraud or violation of laws, which is not the case in Pac vs Horn,” said WBO president Paco Valcarcel on his social media site. “The contract for Pac vs. Horn provides a rematch clause, which the WBO is in accordance if the promoters decide to move forward.”

Fighting in Horn’s home country was a risky move on Pacquiao’s part. That was a move that Pacquiao didn’t have to take as the WBO champion and the A-side fighter. If Pacquiao is going to be finishing out his career fighting in home country of the fighters that bring the most money, which in this case is Horn, he might find himself in similar situations in the future where the decision doesn’t swing his way.

It’s never easy for the visiting fighters to win decisions when fighting in the home country of a popular fighter. If Pacquiao decides to continue his boxing career, his next fight could be against Konstantin Ponomarev, a little known fighter in Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum’s stable. While Arum hasn’t mentioned yet where Pacquiao would be fighting Ponomarev, it’s not hard to imagine that it could potentially take place in Russia. If that’s where the most money is, then Pacquiao could once again be the visiting fighter having to scrape hard for a decision win. Pacquiao is no longer knocking out his opposition at this point in his career. He only has one way of winning and that’s by decision. It’s not easy for a fighter to win on the road.

Earlier today, the Philippines’ Games and Amusement Board called for the WBO to review the decision for the Pacquiao-Horn fight, according to Sky Sports News.

“I love boxing and I don’t want to see it dying because of unfair decision and officiating,” Pacquiao said via Sky Sports. “I had already accepted the decision but as a leader and, at the same time, fighter I have the moral obligation to uphold sportsmanship, truth and fairness in the eyes of the public. WBO should take appropriate action on the letter sent by the Games and Amusement Board so as not to erode the people’s interest in boxing.”

WBO president Paco Valcarcel’s Tweet earlier on Monday lets Pacquiao know that the decision for his loss to Horn is not going to be reversed and that he’ll need to use his rematch clause. That’s how it is now for Pacquiao.

The good news for Pacquiao is a lot of the boxing public thinks he was robbed of a decision win in the Horn fight. If Pacquiao wants to walk away from his loss to horn, he can do so with his head held high knowing that a good portion of the fans feel that he won the fight. There would be no shame in Pacquiao deciding not to take the rematch, especially if it’s uncertain that the fight and the results would play out any differently than the first fight. The problem is, Pacquiao’s options for his next fight don’t appear to be very good. If Pacquiao continues to fight on, he could wind up facing Ponomarev in his next fight. He’s one of Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum’s fighters.

If Pacquiao can push for a fight against one of the popular welterweights in the division like Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr. or Amir Khan, then there’s a chance that one of those fights could happen. The money that Pacquiao would make might not be as good as what he just received in the Horn fight. The better fighters in boxing would want a good payday in fighting Pacquiao. That could cut into the money that he makes. Unfortunately, a rematch with Horn might be Pacquiao’s best bet for a good payday.

Pacquiao made $10 million for the Horn fight last Saturday. That was a far cry from the $20 million that Pacquiao used to make during his best years as a PPV attraction. In the last 3 fights, Pacquiao’s promoter Arum has matched him against opposition that was not high demand fighters in Tim Bradley, Jessie Vargas and Horn. Arum now has Pacquiao fighting on ESPN instead of PPV. His fight with Horn brought in a peak of 4.4 million viewers last weekend during the fight that was televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes in the USA. The numbers were good, but this wasn’t PPV. Pacquiao needs to fight popular guys for him to be on PPV, and unfortunately he’s being matched against the less popular fighters nowadays for whatever reason.