By David Finger
The WBO has just released the results of their review of the scoring of the Pacquiao-Horn fight and it looks like Jeff Horn has again won a decision over Manny Pacquiao.
After a formal protest and was filed by the Philippines Games and Amusements Board (GAB) on July 3rd, disputing the decision of the Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao fight and alleging “errors of the referee and judges who officiated the subject fight”, the WBO agreed in a letter written by President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, to review the decision. Valcarcel stated that as part of the review the WBO had five “anonymous and competent Judges from different countries” watch a replay of the Horn-Pacquiao fight “without sound distractions.”
“The purpose of this review is to be able to give the fans certainty of who was the winner of the bout,” Valcarcel said in the WBO’s response letter of July 6th. “(E)ven though we do not have the power to reverse the decision of the Judges based on discretion and, in this case, we do have a rematch clause in the fight contract.”
The results of the review were released earlier today, and for the second time a panel of neutral WBO judges found that Jeff Horn came out on top in his fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Of the five judges scoring the fight, one judge had Pacquiao winning by one point (114-113) while one judge had the fight even (114-114). However, three of the judges reviewing the decision had Horn winning by scores of 115-113 (identical to two of the judges in the fight) and two by scores of 114-113. All five judges had Horn winning the first, sixth and twelfth rounds, while all five judges had Pacquiao winning the third, eighth and ninth rounds.
The WBO determined the winner of the fight after review based on which fighter won on three of the five anonymous judges’ scorecards. Using this calculation Horn again ended up on top by a score of 115-113, again identical to two of the judges at ringside in Brisbane.
“From the results, it can be established that Pacquiao won five rounds while Horn won seven rounds.” The WBO said in a press released earlier today. “Jeff Horn was the winner of the bout.”