Last weekend, Manny Pacquiao's handlers were confident of a short fight, but things did not go as planned for the Filipino star.
Pacquiao was shocked by huge underdog Jeff Horn, before a crowd of 51,052-strong at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
After twelve rounds of action, Horn walked away with a twelve round unanimous decision win and also captured Pacquiao's WBO welterweight world title. All three judges awarded it to Horn, with Waleska Roldan scoring it 117-111 and both Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan scoring it 115-113.
Some critics slammed it as a hometown decision, saying the statistics had Pacquiao landing twice the number of power punches as Horn.
There is an immediate rematch clause, with Pacquiao looking likely as going in the direction of executing that clause.
"That's the decision of the judges. I respect that. We have a rematch clause, so no problem," Pacquiao said.
Horn started strongly and won at least three of the first five rounds on all three of the judge's cards. But Pacquiao, after twice needing treatment for a cut on top of his head in the 6th and 7th rounds, appeared to dominate most of the rounds from the eighth.
He was close to finishing it in the 9th when he relentlessly pounded Horn and had him wobbling -- to the point where referee Mark Nelson asked the 29-year-old former schoolteacher if he could continue -- and could also have come out with the win.
Horn was confident he was always ahead on points, and was startled after the 9th when the referee asked if he was OK to continue.
"I felt off balance and overmatched in [Round 9] but I recovered quickly," Horn said, according to CBS Sports. "I thought it would be a little harder to get the decision. I thought I managed to get the decision but it was close. I thought it would be more of a knockout if I was going to win this fight."
If it's a rematch that Pacquiao wants, the 2012 Australian Olympian has no problem with that scenario and believes he would win more impressively in a second contest.
“It was a close fight but I edged it and I deserved the win,” Horn said.
“He’s probably trying to talk up the rematch and we’ll see if he really wants it. I’m happy to fight him again — I think I could beat him in even better fashion next time.”