SYDNEY, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The World Boxing Organisation (WBO) has confirmed on Tuesday that Australia's Jeff Horn has been judged the victor, after a rescoring of his world title fight with Manny Pacquiao in Australia on July 2.
The controversial clash initially resulted in a unanimous victory for the relatively unknown Australian fighter, with the Pacquiao camp and Filipino government calling for a review into the scoring in the days following the bout.
At the time, Pacquiao while accepting that the judges result was final, sought to have the fight analysed by the outside judges in order to ensure the validity of the sport, and quash any negative publicity boxing had received due to the result.
"I love boxing and I don't wanna see it dying because of unfair decision and officiating," Pacquiao said.
"I had already accepted the decision but as a leader and, at the same time, fighter I have the moral obligation to uphold sportsmanship, truth and fairness in the eyes of the public."
The judges in the first instance scored the bout at 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113 - but this was widely panned in the worldwide boxing community, especially the result from the judge who gave Horn a 6 point win, and the result was viewed as a devastating upset for the multiple time world champion Pacquiao.
The reassessment of the fight saw five anonymous judges go back over the fight, and found that of the five new results, one judge gave the fight to the Filipino legend, one scored it a draw, while the other three retained the initial decision - two of those with a one point margin.
In a statement obtained by Xinhua, the WBO said that they got the judges to watch the fight again with the sound removed, and came to their determinations which were then combined with the initial results.
"Upon the analysis, the findings stated that Pacquiao won the third, the eighth and ninth by 100 percent - the fifth round was won by 80 per cent, and the 11th round by 60 per cent," the statement read.
"Horn won the first, sixth and 12th rounds by 100 per cent - the second, fourth, and seventh by 80 per cent - and then, the 10th round by 60 per cent,"
"From the results, it can be established that Pacquiao won five rounds while Horn won seven rounds." the statement added.
Despite the controversy, both fighters are said to be looking at a rematch - with a clause having been written into the contract in the case of a Pacquiao loss - that could take place as soon as November 2017.
