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Battle of Brisbane

Date	2 July 2017
Venue	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Title(s) on the line	WBO welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Manny Pacquiao Jeff Horn Nickname "Pac-Man" "The Hornet" Hometown Sarangani province, Philippines Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Pre-fight record 59–6–2 (38 KO) 16–0–1 (11 KO) Height 5 ft 5+1/2 in (1.66 m) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Recognition Eight-division world champion. WBO welterweight champion. Former lineal welterweight champion. WBO Inter-Continental welterweight champion. IBF Inter-Continental welterweight champion.
Result
Jeff Horn via Unanimous Decision

Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn, billed as "Battle of Brisbane", was a boxing match for the WBO welterweight championship, held at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia on 2 July 2017. After 12 rounds, Horn won via a controversial unanimous decision.

Background

The bout was initially announced in January 2017. However, by the next month the fight was in doubt. Pacquiao decided to fight Amir Khan in the United Arab Emirates, but the fight fell through. Pacquiao-Khan is now possible to take place in November 2017.

The fight was finalized in April 2017, and was financed by the city of Brisbane and the Queensland government. Some in the media questioned the quality of the match-up.

On June 1, it was reported that 40,000 tickets had been sold within over a month left for the fight.

The fight

In front of 51,052, Pacquiao lost a hard fought fight via a controversial unanimous decision when the three judges scored it 117-111, 115-113, 115-113 in favor of Horn. Many pundits as well as many current and former boxers believed Pacquiao had done enough to retain the WBO title. Although Horn was the aggressor and showed determination throughout the fight, it nearly came to an end in round 9 when Pacquiao took control and looked for the stoppage. Horn lasted the round and was told by referee Mark Nelson, that he needs to show competitiveness or he would stop the fight.

Despite now having lost four of his last nine fights, Pacquiao remained humble, “I’m professional. I respect the judges.”

It was reported that Horn would receive $500,000 from this fight and Pacquiao was guaranteed at least $10 million. Pacquiao stated he would activate the rematch clause and fight Horn again at the end of 2017. Compubox stats showed that Pacquiao landed 182 out of 573 punches thrown (32%), whilst Horn landed 92 of 625 thrown (15%).

In regards to the controversial scorecards, ESPN's Dan Rafael scored the fight 117-111 and ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas scored it 116-111, both for Pacquiao. The Guardian also scored the fight 117-111 in favor of Pacquiao. CBS Sports scored the fight 114-114 even. IBT scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao. Boxing Scene had it 116-112 for Pacquiao.

Broadcasting

The fight was broadcast as a pay-per-view in the fighters' home countries of Australia and the Philippines, with the rights respectively held by Main Event and ABS-CBN.

In the United States, the fight was aired on ESPN (in English) and ESPN Deportes (in Spanish). The fight marked a return of Top Rank boxing to ESPN; the promotion had previously aired fights on ESPN from 1980 to 1996. It marked the first time that a Pacquiao bout would air on a non-premium, basic cable channel in the United States, and was his first non-PPV bout since his co-main event fight with Hector Velasquez in an Erik Morales-Zahir Raheem headliner on September 10, 2005. The event was reported by The Ring to be the first in a larger, two-year contract with ESPN. The ESPN broadcast achieved an average viewership of 2.812 million and a 1.6 Nielsen household rating, while ESPN reported an average audience of 3.1 million and a peak of 4.4 across both its English and Spanish-language broadcasts. ESPN claimed that it was the most-watched boxing telecast in cable history, and the most-watched boxing telecast in ESPN history.

International broadcast

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable/pay television	PPV
Australia	—	—	Main Event
Brazil	—	SporTV	—
Canada	—	Super Channel	—
Mexico	TV Azteca	—	—
New Zealand	—	—	SKY Arena
Philippines	GMA Network	—	Sky PPV
United Kingdom	—	BoxNation	—
United States	—	ESPN (English) ESPN Deportes (Spanish)	—

Official scorecard

Fight card

Weight Class		vs.		Result	Round	Notes
Welterweight	Jeff Horn	def.	Manny Pacquiao (c)	UD	12
Super Flyweight	Jerwin Ancajas (c)	def.	Teiru Kinoshita	TKO	7
Light Heavyweight	Damien Hooper	def.	Umar Salamov (c)	UD	10
Middleweight	David Toussaint	def.	Shane Mosley Jr	SD	8
Super Lightweight	Brent Dames	def.	Jonel Dapidran	UD	6
Super Bantamweight	Michael Conlan	def.	Jarrett Owen	KO3	6
Super Bantamweight	Brock Jarvis	def.	Rasmanudin	KO1	6

^Note 1 For WBO Welterweight title
^Note 2 For IBF Super Flyweight title
^Note 3 For WBO International & vacant IBF Light Heavyweight International titles
^Note 4 Pre broadcast bout. Non-televised announced by Daniel Hennessey
^Note 5 Pre broadcast bout. Non-televised announced by Daniel Hennessey

Reactions

Horn's upset win over Pacquiao was widely criticized by boxing analysts, sports journalists, and fans alike, with many comparing the decision to that of the controversial Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight.

Post-fight stats showed that Pacquiao landed almost double the number of punches that Horn landed. Dieter Kurtenbach of Fox Sports described the fight as "rigged", and T. J. Quinn of ESPN commented, “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".

Pacquiao's coach Freddie Roach was disappointed of the results. “That was hard, sometimes I think people need to be investigated,” Roach commented, referring to judge Waleska Roldan score 117-111.

Pacquiao said after the fight that he plans to exercise his rematch clause, and that he would return to Australia for that fight. Pacquiao, who stated that he respects the judges' decision, also said that he wants competent officials for the rematch.

Rescore by WBO

In response to a request from the Philippines Games and Amusements Board, the WBO agreed to rescore the fight between Pacquiao and Horn. It was scored round-by-round by five anonymous judges but the WBO stated that they do not have the power to reverse the original result of the fight. The WBO rescored the fight in favour of Horn 7 rounds to Pacquiao's 5 rounds. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said the result of the WBO's review "doesn't settle anything." Arum stated: "First of all they didn't that Jeff Horn clearly won the fight. They (WBO) had five judges scoring the fight: three had Horn winning narrowly, one had it at draw, one had Pacquiao winning."

WBO's rescore :-

Judge 1: 114-113 - Pacquiao
Judge 2: 114-114 - Draw
Judge 3: 113-115 - Horn
Judge 4: 113-114 - Horn
Judge 5: 113-114 - Horn

See also

• Sport in Brisbane

References

1. "Manny Pacquiao to defend welterweight title against Australian Jeff Horn on April 22". Espn.com. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
2. "Australia's Jeff Horn on standby as dream Manny Pacquiao bout uncertain". Espn.com. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
3. "Nocookies". The Australian. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
4. Terrell, Alex (5 April 2017). "Manny Pacquiao to fight Jeff Horn in Australia on July 2 in what will be the Filipino's 68th professional bout". Thesun.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
5. "Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn set for July in Australia, Top Rank says". Espn.com. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
6. AP. "Manny Pacquiao to fight Jeff Horn in Australia on July 2". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
7. Sport. "Manny Pacquiao should be applauded, not lambasted, for fighting Jeff Horn". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
8. "Manny Pacquiao's decision to fight Jeff Horn is baffling, disappointing | Other Sports". Sporting News. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
9. "40,000 tickets already sold for Pacquiao-Horn". Boxing News. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
10. "Jeff Horn stuns Manny Pacquiao in WBO welterweight world title fight – as it happened". Guardian. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
11. "Jeff Horn Shocks Manny Pacquiao in Blood-Filled Upset! - Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
12. "Manny Pacquiao: Jeff Horn wins WBO welterweight title in Brisbane". BBC Sport. 2 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
13. "Horn takes Pacquiao's title in stunning upset". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
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15. Gallo, D. J. (2 July 2017). "Jeff Horn stuns Pacquiao in WBO welterweight world title fight – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 July 2017. {{cite news}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 65 (help)
16. "Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn: LIVE Round By Round Scorecard, Preview And Recap For Boxing Event". International Business Times. 1 July 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
17. "Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn scorecard - Boxing News". www.boxingscene.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
18. "ABS-CBN gains exclusive pay broadcast rights to Pacquiao vs. Horn". ABS-CBN. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
19. "Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn set for July in Australia, Top Rank says". ESPN.com. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
20. "Bob Arum says Jeff Horn can upset Manny Pacquiao". Courier-Mail. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
21. "Pacquiao-Horn To Air Live on ESPN, 9PM ET/6PM PT - Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
22. "Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn fight to air live on ESPN". USA Today. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
23. "ESPN to televise Manny Pacquiao's next fight as part of new Top Rank agreement". Bloody Elbow (SB Nation). Vox Media. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
24. "Pacquiao vs Horn does big ratings on ESPN". Bad Left Hook (SB Nation). Retrieved 3 July 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
25. "Jeff Horn's upset of Manny Pacquiao is highest-rated fight on cable TV this decade". USA Today. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
26. "Pacquiao vs. Horn fight peaks at 4.4 million on ESPN platforms". Bloody Elbow (SB Nation). Retrieved 4 July 2017.
27. News, ABS-CBN. "Judges court controversy with Pacquiao-Jeff Horn scores". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
28. ^ Adel, Rosette. "Sports personalities call Pacquiao-Horn decision 'robbery'". The Philippine Star. Philstar.
29. "Jeff Horn scores controversial decision upset of Manny Pacquiao, to take welterweight belt". USA Today.
30. ^ Blair, Alex (3 July 2017). "Jeff Horn defeats Manny Pacquiao: 'Ridiculous' decision blasted by US". news.com.au.
31. Christ, Scott (2 July 2017). "Pacquiao vs Horn results: Jeff Horn scores shocking, controversial upset". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
32. "Pacquiao Wants Fair Deal, Competent Officials For Horn Rematch - Boxing News". Boxingscene.com. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
33. "WBO will rescore controversial Pacquiao vs. Horn fight but result won't change". CBS Sports. 7 July 2017.
34. ^ "Manny Pacquiao Jeff Horn re-score results: WBO statement, scorecards from title fight review". Fox Sports. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
35. Arum Reacts To WBO Backing Horn's Shocker Over Pacquiao

• 2017 in Australian sport
• 2017 in boxing
• Boxing fights
• Boxing in Australia
• July 2017 sports events
• 2010s in Queensland
• Sport in Brisbane
• Sports scandals in Australia