In a shocking and controversial outcome, greenhorn Jeff Horn shocked the Boxing world by upsetting Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision to win the WBO world welterweight title Sunday at Brisbane, Australia. The declaration of Australian boxer as the winner of the welterweight championship fight against Filipino Manny Pacquiao reverberated around the world.
The decision will take away from the action itself, which was entertaining and at times cinematic. Tens of thousands of fans packed sunny Suncorp Stadium, readily cheering both Pacquiao and Horn when they did something positive. Blood streamed down both fighters' faces, due to a combination of accidental head clashes and powerful exchanges. Multiple timeouts for lost mouthpieces, cut checks and retaping allowed the combatants to gather themselves and pour forth more energy.
Although the local fighter Horn was very aggressive in the early rounds, using his reach and size advantage to pressure the Filipino champion, as the match went on, the masterful skill of Manny Pacquiao became more predominant.
The Filipino southpaw began to find his range against the taller opponent, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the ninth round, Horn appeared fatigued and the fight was in danger of being stopped, but the home crowd of 50,000 fans rallied behind the Aussie, to see him finish the stronger of the two.
Judges scored the 12 round contest 117-111, 115-113, 115-113, for a unanimous decision victory to Jeff Horn, who is the new WBO welterweight champion of the world.
But the judges verdict has opened a floodgate of criticisms as the match statistics really showed that it was Pacquiao who ought to have been declared the winner.
Here are some of the comments ignited by the fight;
