By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum declared the decision that newly crowned WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn received over Manny Pacquiao was close but fair.

“I know Jeff would welcome the rematch, but I don’t know Manny’s future position,” Arum said. “Is he going to stay in politics and not continue in boxing? I don’t know, and he doesn’t know now — it’s unfair to ask him now.”

Arum said it was “a close fight. It could have gone either way.”

“A couple of close rounds, but you can’t argue with the result. I scored a lot of the early rounds for Jeff. Then I had Manny coming back in the middle. The 12th round, Jeff really won. If you give Manny the 11th, you have it a draw. You give Jeff the 11th, it’s 7-5.”