Vinny’s Views: 911 I Want to Report A Robbery! Manny Pacquiao Gets Robbed In Australia in Loss to Jeff Horn

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

Bullshit in Brisbane. Apologies to avid fan ladies and younger gents who get their boxing fix here, but there just are no other words to sum up the Australian debacle disguised as Jeff Horn’s coronation as WBO welterweight champion over legend Manny Pacquiao.

In a twelve round upset Horn raised his record to 17-0-1, 11 KO’s and distanced himself from humble beginnings as a high school teacher, but this was the worst boxing decision since Timothy Bradley pulled off the same feat five years ago. In both bouts, one would be hard pressed to award either contender four rounds yet the sport I love and cover never seems to be above home town (country) decisions and could care less about the integrity of the sport.

The blind judges shouldn’t be barred. They should be court martialed for denying Pacquiao his hard fought, but lopsided win. When there is no international boxing commission to govern the sport we will continue to get slimy disrespectful robberies that turn off even casual fans and have the boxing community at large wrenching in disgust.

Manny’s record fell needlessly to 59-7-2, 38 KO’s after another Bob Arum bungle. After failing for years to match Manny with the best quality opponents in the market he focused his own stable of welterweights upon us and after a long, healthy and productive run with HBO he was pretty much told that as is, Pac wasn’t on their PPV radar any longer. Knowing this he tried shoveling this subpar match upon us based on Horn’s undefeated record.

This once cancelled fight before 4/22 contracts were signed had even Manny bored at the prospect of fighting a so called contender without one recognizable name on his record. Manny opened blogged on public forums for fans to pick his next foe and Amir Kahn won out as an overwhelming favorite taking over 40 % of the polling. Arum of Top Rank was unable to secure the fan friendly rivalry as they were once part of same stable under the tutelage of Freddie Roach. Back to bottom of waste paper basket and plan number one. Arum’s genius was to promote the bout in Horn’s native Australia where 55,000 seats would placate a tremendous live gate without taking into account his star money maker hasn’t stopped an opponent in eight years and now entering ring at advanced age of 38, spotting his game dance partner 9 years.

Why he couldn’t see a hometown decision victory a distinct possibility suggests one of two scenarios. He no longer is savvy enough to protect his fighters from the dirty politics that plague boxing or he simply could care less knowing “he” will benefit from rematch clause as much as both fighters.

This bout was covered here in depth where it was predicted Manny Pacquiao would win a decision by rounds of 8/4.

The fight:

Covered by ESPN the main event started past the midnight hour after a long uneventful and star starved under card. Both warriors entered ring to rousing fan support with rockers AC/DC supplying ring entrance music for both boxers.

Recap:

Round one. Manny comes out looking to gage distance and boxing from southpaw stance bathed in sweat. Horn is dry as a bone but highly composed and yet coming forward with effective aggression. It’s a term that cannot be applied to most of the rest of the fight regardless of how determined he was. Manny often backed away from conflict or circled out of pocket before landing anything of consequence. Horn connects with enough jabs and momentum to easily secure the round.

Horn: 10/9

Round two: Close round as Horn continued his forward momentum but was now eating hard counters as Pac was getting a rhythm going where he could fire and retreat without getting tagged. He boxed and moved with smooth distinct patterns which appeared to nullify Horns good work of first round.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round three: More of the same but Manny is now playing matador in “Duranesque” style turning his pursuer into his punches. Horn gets a swollen eye for his troubles.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round four: Pac simply outhustles the game Hornet reversing the look of round one. Jeff has a cut eye for his trouble.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round five: Horn is trying hard but visibly losing steam. Badly in need of an early second wind his footwork is sloppy and his punches lack steam as Pac continues his dominance.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round six: An early accidental clash of heads due to Horns bruising style leaves Pac with a serious head gash on hairline beyond windows peak. Manny is quickly entrenched in blood flow pouring freely over one eye. He is slightly wobbled by good power shot with thirty seconds left to round. Amid the unforeseen controversy he still manages to fight back on anger weathering the unlucky turn of events which has ignited Horn to fight harder targeting the injured eye.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round seven: Another early clash of heads has Manny now suffering another wound to hairline just opposite original injury. His face instantly becomes a mask of crimson in a free flowing mosaic on both sides of his face and shoulders. To any viewer who just turned on the bout it would appear that Pac had withstood a horrendous beating belying the fact two head butts have put the outcome of bout in jeopardy. Jeff has made good use of the champion’s eye obstruction and temporary blindness landing shots from both sides of gate that Manny can’t see or defend against.

Horn: 10/9

Round eight: The omnipresence of having to regain control of bout is written on Manny’s desperate face yet his fists back him up and swings the momentum his way. Horn is off his mark and finding it difficult nailing his target. Manny is landing more power shots but has neglected the body all night long.

Pacquiao: 10/9

Round nine: Pac realizes the danger of having the now well contained wounds start to ooze open and cause a twofold problem of hindered vision as well as unfairly influencing the judges as both cuts were not done with fisticuffs. On a kamikaze three minute mission of mayhem Pacquiao goes for the knockout after finally sensing one shot counters will not bring down his foe. He is now freely landing vicious one/two combos at will staggering Horn and rocking him on his heels for entire three minutes. Over 30 power head punches found their mark as the challenger used every ounce of strength to defy gravity. Many referees would have administer an eight count or possibly called a TKO stoppage as Horn was unable to defend himself and fight back.

Pacquiao: 10/8 (In a one sided beating a fighter does not need to touch canvass to be awarded an 8 point round)

Between rounds referee Mark Nelson goes to Horn’s corner about to stop fight. Amid pleas and protests form corner Jeff is warned to “show me something. Do you want to continue? I am here for your safety…”

Round ten: Manny’s going for broke has severely winded himself and now must concentrate on saving his second wind for long haul of last three rounds. He clearly takes the round off as a breather allowing Horn back into fight.

Horn: 10/9

Round eleven: Up to this point yours truly has a duel scorecard of fight commentator Teddy Atlas. Both fighters are keyed into mortal combat yet still angling for footwork supremacy allowing greater leverage to power shots. This action was evenly distributed in a fair give and take see saw action round where it could be argued neither boxer lost momentum. Hence round was a draw.

Pac/Horn 10/10

Round twelve: Another close round, but Horn’s rough housing and clinching are now growing stale as Manny is dictating on his own terms fighting fair and square. While the action saw parity, Pac owned the round with cleaner effective punches.

Pacquiao: 10/9

The three would be judges awarded the pathetically laughable unanimous decision as 115-113 twice, and 117-111 making fans wonder if they scored it in braille.

Ringside Report: Pacquiao: 117-111

Aftermath:

Manny said he would evoke the immediate rematch clause and Jeff welcomed the opportunity to do it again. While many fans feel they will once again be treated to a worthwhile and entertaining brawl purists sit in disgust that true history was denied as inept scorekeeping by bias judges has once again altered history as well as the course of Pacquiao’s career.

After 22 years as a pro and fast closing in on his 39 birthday in December when the rematch most likely would occur you get the sense that the immortal Manny is truly in twilight of his storied career as his full time job of Philippine senator awaits.

Win, lose or draw by God I pray the bout unfolds under its own merits and may the best man win. Pac deserves better than another robbery and with Horn in bargaining position as new champion will dictate event to once again be held in Queensland.

Stay tuned…

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