Horn-Pacquiao result to be reviewed but WBO rules out stripping title | Sport

Horn-Pacquiao result to be reviewed but WBO rules out stripping title | Sport

Jeff Horn’s upset victory over Manny Pacquiao may be re-scored but the Australian’s welterweight world title is safe. The World Boxing Organisation has agreed to a Filipino government department’s request to review Sunday’s fight after the legendary Pacquiao described the unanimous decision against him as unfair.

The Philippines Games and Amusements Board’s (GAB) based their request on protecting boxing’s integrity, citing possible miscalls by the referee and judges. But the WBO reiterated its only hope of revoking the fight judges’ decision rests on proving fraud in match officiating.

“I would be very grateful if the GAB can provide any evidence indicating fraud or violation of law,” WBO president Francisco Valcarcel said in his response to the request. “The purpose of this review is to be able to give the fans certainty of who was the winner of the bout, even though we do not have the power to reverse the decision of the judges.”

Five anonymous judges will review the bout, assigning their own scores to rounds. “Then, we will tabulate the results to ascertain clearly which rounds each fighter won using an average scale based on 60, 80 and 100 per cent,” Valcarcel said. “This means that three of the five officials have to agree to determine which fighter won the round.”

The original fight was scored 117-111, 115-113, 115-113 by judges Waleksa Roldan, Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan respectively, with Roldan coming in for particularly scathing criticism over her scorecard.

Valcarcel backed the judges, who have each overseen hundreds of fights. “The officials who participated in this fight are all professional, distinguished, honest and honorable human beings,” he said.

Pacquiao’s best chance of redemption now lies with evoking a re-match clause in the fight contract with Horn. But it remains unknown whether the 38-year-old, who’s a senator in the Philippines, will continue his boxing career.

Pacquiao backed GAB’s call for a review in a statement on Wednesday. “On my part, 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,” he said.

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