Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn

Battle of Brisbane

Date	July 2, 2017
Venue	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Title(s) on the line	WBO welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Manny Pacquiao Jeff Horn Nickname Pac-Man The Hornet Hometown General Santos, Philippines Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Pre-fight record 59–6–2 (38 KO) 16–0–1 (11 KO) Height 5 ft 5+1⁄2 in (166 cm) 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) Weight 146 lb (66 kg) 147 lb (67 kg) Style Southpaw Orthodox Recognition WBO welterweight champion 8-division world champion IBF and WBO Inter-Continental welterweight champion
Result
Horn wins via 12-round unanimous decision (117-111, 115-113, 115-113)

Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn , billed as the Battle of Brisbane, was a boxing match for the WBO welterweight championship. The event took place on July 2, 2017 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Horn won the fight by highly controversial unanimous decision and claimed his first world title in boxing.

Background

The bout was initially announced in January 2017. ^[1] However, by the next month the fight was in doubt. ^[2] Pacquiao decided to fight Amir Khan in the United Arab Emirates, but the fight fell through. ^[3]

The fight was finalized in April 2017, ^[4] with the city of Brisbane and the Queensland government financing it. ^[5] Some in the media questioned the quality of the match-up. ^{[6] [7]}

It was reported on June 1 that 40,000 tickets had been sold within over a month remaining until the fight. ^[8]

Fight details

In front of 51,052, Pacquiao lost a hard fought fight via controversial unanimous decision when the three judges scored it 117–111, 115–113, 115–113 in favor of Horn. Many pundits, as well as many current and former boxers, believed Pacquiao had done enough to retain the WBO title. Pacquiao claimed Horn got away with numerous dirty tactics in the fight, using illegal blows including elbows and headbutts, causing him to be cut on three different occasions during the fight. ^[9]

Although Horn was the aggressor and showed determination throughout the fight, it nearly came to an end in round 9 when Pacquiao took control and looked for the stoppage. Horn lasted the round and was told by referee Mark Nelson to show competitiveness or else he would stop the fight. ^[10]

Despite now having lost 4 of his last 9 fights, Pacquiao remained humble, “I’m professional. I respect the judges.”

It was reported that Horn would receive $500,000 from this fight and Pacquiao was guaranteed at least $10 million. Pacquiao stated he would activate the rematch clause and fight Horn again at the end of 2017. CompuBox stats showed that Pacquiao landed 182 out of 573 punches thrown (32%), whilst Horn landed 92 of 625 thrown (15%). ^{[11] [12]}

In regard to the controversial scorecards, ESPN's Dan Rafael scored the fight 117–111 and ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas scored it 116–111, both for Pacquiao. ^[13] The Guardian and the International Business Times also scored the fight in favor of Pacquiao as well, 117–111. ^{[14] [15]} BoxingScene had it 116–112 for Pacquiao, while CBS Sports scored the fight 114–114 even. ^{[16] [17]} BoxNation's Steve Bunce scored the fight 115–113 for Horn. ^[18] In total, 12 of 15 media outlets scored the bout for Pacquiao, 2 of 15 outlets ruled in favor of Horn and 1 scored a draw. ^[19]

Official scorecards

Judge	Fighter	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total [20]
Waleska Roldan	Pacquiao	9	9	10	9	9	9	9	10	10	9	9	9	111
	Horn	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	9	9	10	10	10	117
Chris Flores	Pacquiao	9	10	10	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	9	9	113
	Horn	10	9	9	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	10	10	115
Ramon Cerdan	Pacquiao	9	9	10	9	10	9	9	9	10	10	10	9	113
	Horn	10	10	9	10	9	10	10	10	9	9	9	10	115

Fight card

Weight Class		vs.		Result	Round	Notes
Welterweight	Jeff Horn	def.	Manny Pacquiao (c)	UD	12	Note 1
Super flyweight	Jerwin Ancajas (c)	def.	Teiru Kinoshita	TKO	7	Note 2
Light heavyweight	Damien Hooper	def.	Umar Salamov (c)	UD	10	Note 3
Middleweight	David Toussaint	def.	Shane Mosley Jr.	SD	8
Super lightweight	Brent Dames	def.	Jonel Dapidran	UD	6	Note 4
Super bantamweight	Michael Conlan	def.	Jarrett Owen	KO	3
Super bantamweight	Brock Jarvis	def.	Rasmanudin	KO	1	Note 5

^Note 1 For WBO welterweight title
^Note 2 For IBF super flyweight title
^Note 3 For WBO International and vacant IBF light heavyweight International titles
^Note 4 Pre broadcast bout. Non-televised announced by Daniel Hennessey

Broadcasting

The fight was broadcast as a pay-per-view (PPV) in the fighters' home countries of Australia and the Philippines, with the rights respectively held by Main Event and ABS-CBN's Sky PPV. ^{[21] [22] [23]}

In the United States, the fight was acquired by ESPN; it marked a return of Top Rank boxing to the network, after having previously aired fights on ESPN from 1980 to 1996. It marked the first time that a Pacquiao bout would air on a non-premium, basic cable channel in the United States, and his first non-PPV bout in the U.S. since 2005. ^[24] The event was a prelude to a long-term deal between ESPN and Top Rank, formally announced in August and replacing its former agreement with HBO (which discontinued boxing telecasts). ^{[25] [26]}

The ESPN broadcast achieved an average viewership of 2.812 million and a 1.6 Nielsen household rating, while ESPN reported an average audience of 3.1 million and a peak of 4.4 across both its English and Spanish-language broadcasts. ESPN stated that it was the most-watched boxing telecast in cable and ESPN history. ^{[27] [28] [29]}

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable/pay television	PPV
Australia	—	—	Main Event
Brazil	RecordTV	SporTV	—
Canada	—	Super Channel	—
Indonesia [30]	tvOne	—	—
Mexico	TV Azteca	—	—
New Zealand	—	—	SKY Arena
Philippines	GMA Network One Sports (2020) [31]	—	Sky PPV
Sub-Saharan Africa [32]	—	SuperSport	—
United Kingdom	—	BoxNation	—
United States	—	ESPN (English)	—
		ESPN Deportes (Spanish)

Reactions

Horn's upset win over Pacquiao was widely criticized by boxing analysts, sports journalists and fans alike, with many comparing the decision to that of the controversial Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight. ^{[33] [34]}

Post-fight stats showed that Pacquiao landed almost double the number of punches that Horn landed. ^[35] Dieter Kurtenbach of Fox Sports described the fight as "rigged", and T. J. Quinn of ESPN commented, “No way in hell Horn won unanimously,” he tweeted. “A 117–111 card? Ridiculous. This is a hometown hit job. Manny looked old, but mostly in control". ^[35]

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach was disappointed in the results. “That was hard, sometimes I think people need to be investigated,” Roach commented, referring to the score of 117–111 from judge Waleska Roldan. ^[35]

Pacquiao said after the fight that he plans to exercise his rematch clause and that he would return to Australia for that fight. ^[36] Pacquiao, who stated that he respects the judges' decision, also said that he wants competent officials for the rematch. ^[37] In August 2017, boxing promoter Bob Arum scheduled a rematch between Pacquiao and Horn in Brisbane that was likely to be set for November 2017. However, Pacquiao later stated that he couldn't fight Horn in November 2017, but would do so sometime in 2018.

Rescore by WBO

In response to a request from the Philippines Games and Amusements Board, the WBO agreed to rescore the fight between Pacquiao and Horn. It was scored round-by-round by five anonymous judges but the WBO stated that they do not have the power to reverse the original result of the fight. ^[38] The WBO rescored the fight 115–113, 7 rounds to 5 in favour of Horn. ^[39]

WBO's rescore: ^[39]

Judge 1: 114–113 | Pacquiao
Judge 2: 114–114 | Draw
Judge 3: 113–115 | Horn
Judge 4: 113–114 | Horn
Judge 5: 113–114 | Horn

See also

• Queensland portal

• Boxing in Australia
• Sport in Brisbane

References

1. "Manny Pacquiao to defend welterweight title against Australian Jeff Horn on April 22". Espn.com. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
2. "Australia's Jeff Horn on standby as dream Manny Pacquiao bout uncertain". Espn.com. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
3. "Nocookies". The Australian. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
4. "Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn set for July in Australia, Top Rank says". Espn.com. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
5. AP. "Manny Pacquiao to fight Jeff Horn in Australia on July 2". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
6. Sport. "Manny Pacquiao should be applauded, not lambasted, for fighting Jeff Horn". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
7. "Manny Pacquiao's decision to fight Jeff Horn is baffling, disappointing | Other Sports". Sporting News. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
8. "40,000 tickets already sold for Pacquiao-Horn". Boxing News. 1 June 2017. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
9. Otto, Tyson (3 July 2017). "Horn's 'dirty' tactics questioned". The Australian . Retrieved 10 September 2019.
10. "Jeff Horn stuns Manny Pacquiao in WBO welterweight world title fight – as it happened". Guardian. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
11. "Jeff Horn Shocks Manny Pacquiao in Blood-Filled Upset! – Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
12. "Manny Pacquiao: Jeff Horn wins WBO welterweight title in Brisbane". BBC Sport. 2 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
13. "Horn takes Pacquiao's title in stunning upset". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
14. Gallo, D. J. (2 July 2017). "Jeff Horn stuns Pacquiao in WBO welterweight world title fight – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 July 2017.
15. "Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn: LIVE Round By Round Scorecard, Preview And Recap For Boxing Event". International Business Times. 1 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
16. "Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn scorecard - Boxing News". www.boxingscene.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
17. "Jeff Horn scores controversial upset of Manny Pacquiao via unanimous decision". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
18. "The Press Scores For Manny Pacquiao Vs Jeff Horn Tell You All You Need To Know". www.punditarena.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
19. "Jeff Horn defeats Manny Pacquiao". mmadecisions.com. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
20. News, ABS-CBN. "Judges court controversy with Pacquiao-Jeff Horn scores".{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
21. "ABS-CBN gains exclusive pay broadcast rights to Pacquiao vs. Horn". ABS-CBN. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
22. "Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn set for July in Australia, Top Rank says". ESPN.com. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
23. "Bob Arum says Jeff Horn can upset Manny Pacquiao". Courier-Mail. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
24. "Pacquiao-Horn To Air Live on ESPN, 9PM ET/6PM PT – Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
25. "Vasyl Lomachenko, Terence Crawford to headline live ESPN cards in August". ESPN.com. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
26. Ramos, Dino-Ray (26 August 2017). "ESPN And Top Rank Announce Multi-Year Agreement For New Fight Series". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 28 August 2017.
27. "Pacquiao vs Horn does big ratings on ESPN". Bad Left Hook (SB Nation). Retrieved 3 July 2017.
28. "Jeff Horn's upset of Manny Pacquiao is highest-rated fight on cable TV this decade". USA Today. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
29. "Pacquiao vs. Horn fight peaks at 4.4 million on ESPN platforms". Bloody Elbow (SB Nation). Retrieved 4 July 2017.
30. "tvOneNews on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
31. "Kasabay natin sa hapunan ang labanang Meralco-Ginebra!". One Sports. 18 October 2020 – via Facebook.
32. "Big news boxing fans! SuperSport has secured the rights for this weekend's fight between Jeff Horn & Manny Pacquiao". SuperSport . 26 June 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
33. Adel, Rosette. "Sports personalities call Pacquiao-Horn decision 'robbery'". The Philippine Star. Philstar.
34. "Jeff Horn scores controversial decision upset of Manny Pacquiao, to take welterweight belt". USA Today.
35. Blair, Alex (3 July 2017). "Jeff Horn defeats Manny Pacquiao: 'Ridiculous' decision blasted by US". news.com.au.
36. Christ, Scott (2 July 2017). "Pacquiao vs Horn results: Jeff Horn scores shocking, controversial upset". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
37. "Pacquiao Wants Fair Deal, Competent Officials For Horn Rematch – Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
38. "WBO will rescore controversial Pacquiao vs. Horn fight but result won't change". CBS Sports. 7 July 2017.
39. "Manny Pacquiao Jeff Horn re-score results: WBO statement, scorecards from title fight review". Fox Sports. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.

Preceded by vs. Jessie Vargas	Manny Pacquiao's bouts July 2, 2017	Succeeded by vs. Lucas Matthysse
Preceded by vs. Ali Funeka	Jeff Horn's bouts July 2, 2017	Succeeded by vs. Gary Corcoran