Jeff Horn defeats Manny Pacquiao: ‘Ridiculous’ decision blasted by US

CELEBRITIES, fans and boxing experts were shocked by the judges’ decision in Jeff Horn’s favour. So was Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, and he’s not happy.

The scorecards that caused so much controversy.

MANNY Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, has called for one of the judges from his fight against Australian Jeff Horn to be investigated over her controversial scoring.

Waleska Roldan scored the fight 117-111 in Horn’s favour as part of a unanimous decision, with the other two judges scoring it 115-113.

“That was hard, sometimes I think people need to be investigated,” Roach told the Daily Telegraph.

“At least in America where you get odd scores like that with the judges, the head commissioner should ask at some point, ‘Why? Where? Show me how you came up with that score.’”

Jeff Horn was exceptional, but the US has a severe issue with the win.

Rarely do blockbuster fights ending via decision escape controversy, but the fallout from Horn’s shock victory was something else entirely.

Post-fight stats revealed Pacquiao almost doubled Horn’s number of punches landed in a 182-92 split.

US sports media exploded at the judges’ result immediately.

Boxing expert Teddy Atlas was fuming, claiming the 29-year-old was gifted the decision for how hard he worked as opposed to how many clean punches he threw. The 60-year-old exploded on-air after Horn’s arm was raised, slamming the judges in an incredulous tirade.

“They gave a win, a huge win, to the local kid for trying hard,” he yelled. “You’re not supposed to get it for trying hard. You’re supposed to get it for winning and I thought Pacquiao won the fight if you go by the real rules of who lands the cleaner punches.”

But the boxing icon wasn’t done yet. He approached Horn after the fight, giving the new champion his opinion on the result.

“Congratulations, (you’re) a great athlete,” he said. “I thought you lost, but great effort. I thought (Paquiao) was landing the punches while you were throwing a lot that were missing. But you showed great heart. A heart of a champion, no doubt about that.

“Did you feel, after that ninth round when you heard the referee saying ‘I’m going to stop this fight if you don’t do something’, that you were winning that fight?”

Was the Pac-man robbed of his belt?

Jeff Horn won after only landing 92 total punches, 15% of total thrown. He did more damage with headbutts, forearms, and rabbit punches

— Amino Boxing (@handsofstone491) July 2, 2017

ESPN reporter T.J. Quinn was equally outraged, claiming Horn won because the fight was held on his home turf. “No way in hell Horn won unanimously,” he tweeted. “A 117-111 card? Ridiculous. This is a hometown hit job. Manny looked old, but mostly in control.”

Famous sports columnist Skip Bayless also questioned if the result had to do with the fight taking place in Brisbane.

FOX Sports reporter Dieter Kurtenbach was even more critical, labelling the fight “rigged”. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers took an almighty swipe at boxing, calling the sport a “joke”.

Stephen A. Smith, a commentator for ESPN, was fired up in his post-fight wrap on the network. “Are those officials from Australia? Are they? What did we just see? This is a horrible decision! Horrible!” he said.

.@stephenasmith can't believe it. pic.twitter.com/y535eKi1y3

— ESPN (@espn) July 2, 2017

Wow is the wrong response. Rigged is more like it. That fight was close, but there’s no world where Horn won.

— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) July 2, 2017

No way in hell Horn won unanimously. A 117-111 card? Ridiculous. This is a hometown hit job. Manny looked old, but mostly in control.

— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) July 2, 2017

117-111 on one card??? What fight was that judge watching. Bradley jinx again. #UFC #

— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) July 2, 2017

Manny got robbed. This was some Olympic style robbery on @ESPN. Jeff Horn is the new WBO champion. #joke @NBCDFWSports https://t.co/5ksAqULFBV

— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) July 2, 2017

I'm surprised but I can't argue with the judges' scores giving it narrowly but unanimously to Jeff Horn. But ... this was in Horn's country.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) July 2, 2017

Surprisingly, Pacquiao had no qualms about the result immediately after the fight finalised, accepting the call as medical staff rushed to work on his cuts.

“That’s the decision of the judges, I respect that,” he said.

When asked if he’d be returning later in the year for a rematch, the former world champion replied: “Absolutely, no problem.”

Horn called out out boxing immortal Floyd Mayweather in a bizarre post-fight sledge, asking the 40-year-old — who is preparing to fight UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor in August — if he wanted “the walking stick or gloves” before telling him to “come have a real fight”.

Horn closed out his post-fight interview with a word of thanks to his opponent, a man he looked up to for inspiration early in his career.

“Manny, you’re an absolute legend. Thank you,” he said.