MANNY Pacquiao has issued a surly response to the WBO’s confirmation of victory for Aussie Jeff Horn in their welterweight title fight, as trainer Freddie Roach reveals he has not been paid by the Filipino legend.
Pacquiao and the Philippines government forced a re-score of the Brisbane fight, which again came back in favour of Horn. Pacquiao responded via statement on Tuesday night, making clear he still did not accept the result as correct.
“Let the people judge for themselves. People saw what happened,” Pacquiao said. We have seen worse judgments in the past where judges manipulated results. Nothing surprises me now."
Filipino Games and Amusements Board chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra also issued a statement, saying he was unhappy that the review did not question the performance of American referee Mark Nelson.
“We are grateful that WBO acted promptly on our request but no matter what review they do it will be hard to change the result as the referee didn’t call it close,” Mitra said.
“The judges’ scores would have greatly changed if the refs did their job properly. He didn’t give Manny the respect and fair protection that is due to a people’s champ.”
Horn is still expected to take a rematch with Pacquiao. The Aussie reacted with relief to the news of his confirmed win.
“It’s been good to clarify it because they have argued it. (Now) you can’t dispute anything,” he said. “It gives me evidence behind me that I can just use now. Instead of saying ‘I think I won the fight’, now a heap of other people - professionally - think I won the fight.
“It’s definitely nice to have it finally put on paper. I thought I’d won the fight on the day and I think Pacquiao thought it as well. Now just to have it clear in front of us is good.”
