Fresh from what has so far been oft-described as a “humiliating defeat” by an
underdog opponent nine years his junior fighting with homecourt advantage, boxing legend
Manny Pacquiao is keeping options open – including a rematch.
"Very tough. That's the decision of the judges. I respect that," media quoted Pacquiao as
saying after the fight.
Word on the street has it that Pacquiao, apparently stunned by his defeat, would not retire and
instead take up the option of a rematch later this year.
In a relentless fistfight tit-for- tat, against Pacquiao, Jeff Horn, school teacher, won in a
unanimous decision 117-111, 115-113, 115-113. “The unthinkable became the reality. At 29,
unheralded, unrated and flat-out laughed out by American pundits, Horn stunned the boxing
world,” said The Sydney Morning Herald of the match.
Media accounts of the fight were also unanimous in saying Horn, virtually a nobody, barely
stood a chance against the much-experienced veteran fighter in Pacquiao.
Freddie Roach, Manny’s trainer, had said it would be over in three rounds. But nay! “Horn
came out into the brilliant Brisbane sunshine full of running, pressing forward from the
opening bell,” said the Herald of the fight dubbed “Battle of Brisbane.”
He had to survive a savage Pacquiao counterattack in the ninth round and needed the bell
badly. It looked as if his afternoon would be over but he somehow stayed upright and made it
to his chair, the paper’s report stated.
“When he returned, it was clear that it was Pacquiao's final flurry. At 38, it was exactly the
fight he didn't want. Horn roughed him up all afternoon, using his bigger size to throw the
smaller fighter around the ring and bully him on the ropes.
“His lead right hand would be an effective weapon. It's a punch a younger Pacquiao would
have avoided with far greater ease. Horn was hungry, aggressive and busier for much of the
fight, even if Pacquiao landed some of the cleaner shots,” the Herald further said of its blow-
by-blow account of the fight.
"It's the crowd behind me, all the support," Horn was quoted as saying after the fight.
Both men were bloodied – Horn from a cut above his left eye; Pacquiao from cuts to the head
from repeated clashes.