By Ryan Burton
2017 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Marco Antonio Barrera agrees with most of the court of pubic opinion who thought that Manny Pacquiao should have been awarded the victory when he lost a controversial decision to Jeff Horn earlier this month at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Two judges had Horn winning by a reasonable 2 points while most of the controversy was caused by the third score - a head scratching 117-111 tally. There is an immediate rematch clause, but Pacquiao has yet to make a decision on the matter.
"I thought that he got robbed. In a rematch Pacquiao would win," Barrera recently told BoxingScene.com and other reporters.
Barrera's Hall of Fame career includes two losses to Pacquiao when the Filipino legend was in the prime of his career.
Pacquiao is now 38-years-old and has gone 5-4 in his last 9 fights. Barrera isn't sure if it is just the senator showing his age but believes that he definitely has lost a step. When they were featherweights in 2003, Pacquiao knocked Barrera out, and that catapulted the Filipino boxer's name and him very well known to the fans and the executives at HBO. They didn't have a rematch until four years later, in 2007, when Pacquiao won a dominating twelve round unanimous decision in a super featherweight contest.
But the Pacquiao of 2017 is far from the same fighter who dominated Barrera a decade ago.
"He has slowed down a lot. He hasn't had a knockout in 8 years so he has changed. I don't know if it is because of (his new) religion - also his muscle structure isn't the same as before," said Barrera.
Pacquiao's last knockout occurred in 2009 when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their title bout.
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