WBO PRESIDENT VALCARCEL HAS ORDERED A REVIEW OF PACQUIAO-HORN FIGHT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 07 Jul 2017
Valcarcel.
World Boxing Organization (WBO) president Francisco 'Paco' Valcarcel has ordered a review of the Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn WBO world welterweight championship fight held last Sunday in Brisbane, Australia which ended in a controversial win for Horn with scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113.
Most journalists, boxing experts and fans saw Pacquiao winning the fight and Internet news, social media and barber shops have been broiling on the issue days after the fight.
?The purpose of this review is to be able to give the fans certainty of who was the winner of the bout,? Valcarcel told the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), the Philippines' professional sports regulatory body in a letter. The GAB's chairman Abraham Mitra had earlier requested the WBO to have ?... a thorough review by the WBO for possible miscalls of the referee where some deductions were not made and of the judges in their judging that have caused varying opinions on their objectivity.?
Valcarcel however made in clear to Mitra that the WBO doesn't have the power to reverse the decision unless there is fraud or violation of the Law.
?We must make it clear that an Official?s discretion, whether Judge or Referee, is irrevocable. The decision of an Official should only be revoked when fraud or violations of the Law occur. I assure you that the Officials who participated in this fight are all professional, distinguished, honest and honorable human beings,? Valcarcel said.
For the review, the WBO will appoint ?five (5) anonymous competent Judges from different countries to watch the bout without sound distraction. Then, we will tabulate the results to ascertain clearly which rounds each fighter won using an average scale based on 60, 80 and 100 per cent. This means that 3 of the 5 officials have to agree to determine which fighter won the round.?
The WBO had done this previously in 2012 when Manny Pacquiao also lost a controversial decision to Timothy Bradley during their first encounter on June 9, 2012 in Las Vegas. All five judges appointed for the review saw Pacquiao winning the fight over Bradley.
Pacquiao is one of the most accomplished champions of the WBO having first won the WBO world welterweight title in 2009 when Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto in 2009. Pacquiao relinquished the title to Bradley in 2012 but won it back by defeating Bradley in 2014 in a rematch. Pacquiao lost it again to Mayweather in 2015 but the title was left vacant when Mayweather retired. Pacquiao won the title again over Bradley in their third encounter last year. WBO had accorded Pacquiao the status WBO super champion in February, 2015.
There is a rematch clause in the Pacquiao-Horn contract which Pacquiao could activate. Although Pacquiao, who will be 39 years old in December, said after the fight that he wants a rematch, there were calls for him to retire including from his own hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach.
Horn, meanwhile, has dared Pacquiao to do the rematch.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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