Twitter unanimously decided Manny Pacquiao shouldn’t have lost to Jeff Horn
After a surprising unanimous decision brought a loss for Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night, Twitter had its own unanimous reaction.
Saturday night (Sunday morning in Australia), in the ESPN-dubbed “Battle of Brisbane”, Manny Pacquiao took on native Aussie Jeff Horn for the WBO welterweight title.
By all accounts Pacquaio dominated the fight, landing more than double the punches Horn did in terms of percentage (32 percent, to 15 percent). The ninth round particularly went Pacquiao’s way, and led to referee Mark Nelson declaring he would stop the fight if Horn didn’t “show me something” in the 10th round.
Somehow, all three judges’ scorecards went Horn’s way in the end, 117-111 in one case and 115-113 for the other two. ESPN.com scored it 117-111 in favor of Pacquiao, and ringside analyst Teddy Atlas had Pacquiao 116-111. Atlas literally pounded the table in protest of the decision, and then told Horn directly in a post-fight interview he felt Pacquiao had won.
Not surprisingly, Twitter had a reaction to the controversial decision that reeked of Australian home cooking.
The judge that had it 117-111 for Horn should be suspended--that score is absurd
— Al Bernstein (@AlBernstein) July 2, 2017
Wow! PAC loses by UD? One judge had it 117-111? 😳 Wasn't the fight that I saw!
— Lennox Lewis, CBE, CM (@LennoxLewis) July 2, 2017
Boxing is a joke, and it proves it again tonight. Are you kidding me with those scorecards?#joke #rigged
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) July 2, 2017
Hometown b.s. that decision...
— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) July 2, 2017
They wanted to stop the fight because Pacquiao was winning by too much and then Horn wins by unanimous decision. Makes total sense.
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) July 2, 2017
Timothy Bradley, who won his own controversial decision over Pacquiao in 2012, was ringside working the fight with Joe Tessitore and Atlas.
Manny has been robbed twice and Timothy Bradley was there for both#PacquiaoHorn
— Robert Flores (@RoFlo) July 2, 2017
There was some talk Pacquiao would retire if he lost to Horn. But as usual in most cases, there’s a rematch clause in the deal for Saturday night’s initial fight, and Pacquiao seems set on exercising it.
"“Absolutely, yes,” Pacquiao said of fighting Horn again in Australia. “We have a rematch clause, so no problem.”"
Next: 5 reasons Conor McGregor can shock the boxing world
Horn aimed high after his win, saying he wants to face Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather of course has a fight set for August 26 against UFC champion Conor McGregor, so another fight after that would probably be pushed into 2018. But in any case the “Battle of Brisbane 2” is probably coming, even if Pacquiao will be 39 years old by the time it happens.