Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti believes the scorecard of 117-111, issued as part of Jeff Horn’s upset win over Manny Pacquiao earlier this win, created the bulk of the issues with the fans and critics who were angered by the outcome.
Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs), who was a tremendous underdog, won a twelve round unanimous decision over Pacquiao before a crowd of 51,000 fans at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
The three judges scored it 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111.
Moretti believes if all three judges had scored it 115-113 – there may not have been such a big outcry over Horn’s victory.
“I think whenever you do a fight and you are there in person as opposed to sitting in front of a television, you can have different opinions on who won the fight. I think the one thing everybody can agree on was that it was a close fight. I think the biggest problem of it was that the first score announced that Waleska Roldan came in with 117-111, and it just wasn’t that type of fight, so that sort of set the tone for controversy and people going crazy over the decision,” Moretti said to On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
“If all three judges would have had it 115-113, I’m not so sure that you would have seen the outcry that you did, but when the first score announced is 117-111, people were ‘Oh this is crazy, it wasn’t that type of a fight,’ and it wasn’t, it was a close fight either way. I think that sort of set the tone and the language for people to go and complain about it. I think it was a close fight and Jeff Horn got it, so people thought at ring side that Jeff Horn legitimately won it, and a lot of people thought that Manny won it.”
There is a rematch clause in the contract. Pacquiao has yet to exercise that option. The Filipino superstar is currently a senator in the Philippines and some members of his team believe the boxer’s successful political career has created some issues when it comes to having a well run training camp.
“I think Manny should take some time with what his decision is going to be. I think he has to try and figure a way to balance out being a senator and still being a professional fighter. Once he can figure that out, then he’ll have a clearer path for us to see what he wants to do. But it’s his decision and we will wait to see what he wants to do,” Moretti said.
www.boxingscene.com/top-rank-vp-pacquiao-horn-close-117-111-created-issue–118740