People’s Champ Manny Pacquiao finally broke his silence and hit back at the official recount of his title fight with Aussie fighter Jeff Horn, said he wasn’t surprised with the decision of WBO judges.
This was after the five anonymous, competent WBO judges from different countries confirmed on Tuesday their decision in reviewing the fight without sound.
“From the results, it can be established that Pacquiao won 5 rounds while Horn won 7 rounds,” the WBO statement read.
READ: Pacquiao-Horn title fight re-score results: WBO judges still favor Horn over Pacquiao
For his part, Pacman stated that he clearly saw the decision even before the start of the official review.
“Nothing surprises me now,” said the Filipino pride in an official statement.
“Let the people judge for themselves,” added Pacquiao. “People saw what happened. We have seen worse judgments in the past where judges manipulated results.”
On the other hand, Filipino Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra appreciated the quick response of WBO, but still issued his assertion and bared his disappointment to 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.
Mitra criticized the referee for giving Horn the chances to do some dirty tactics against the Filipino champion without the benefit of a warning.
“The judges’ scores would have greatly changed if the referee did their job properly,” he pointed out.
“He didn’t give Manny the respect and fair protection that is due to a people’s champ,” Mitra added. | Tretch Melarpes – PTV