HORNswoggled
By William Trillo
As defined by Dictionary.com: hornswoggle,
get the better of (someone) by cheating or deception
Whether you think Jeff Horn was awarded the victory over Manny Pacquiao through cheating or deception the fact remains Horn was handed a gift victory and the WBO 147-pound strap. He quite frankly did not earn or deserve either. Truth be told, Horn did a fine job in a hometown arena filled with over 51,000 down under fans, but…
As the fight was drawing near it’s conclusion I was formulating my fight report in my head and figured I would write the obligatory line, “Horn has nothing to be ashamed of”. But that was because I was certain Manny had done more than enough to earn the nod.
With the way things turned out I now have to say, Horn has plenty to be ashamed of as does everyone involved with that rendered decision, whether they be the ref, the judges or anyone else you think could have influenced that hornswoggling.
On any other night, the huge viewer ratings reported by ESPN would be reason for celebration. But given the fact that a lot more people tuned in to see the legend Pacquiao, there are a lot more people who know this was deception on an epic level. Social media is ransacked with the “fix is in” conspiracy theorists and experts across the globe are ripping apart this botched decision.
Former Heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis said after the fight, “Wow! PAC loses by UD? One judge had it 117-111? 😳 Wasn’t the fight that I saw! This is what’s wrong with boxing. Horn was very game but I’m hard pressed to see how he could have won that fight by any stretch!”
Promoter Lou DiBella said, “There’s no way on God’s earth that a rational person who knew anything about boxing could have scored the fight for Horn. He showed great heart but landed fewer than eight punches a round.”
Even actor Samuel L. Jackson chimed in, as only Jackson can saying, “Uhhhhhhh, can U Say B*llsh*t??!! Manny got F*cked!!! That’s the Face of a Winner??!
For the record, I don’t think anyone was involved with cheating here.
Now, is referee Mark Nelson the most inept third man in the ring to be seen in many years? Of course he is. On any other day I might say Nelson was involved with some plot to help Horn win by letting him break a few rules here, there and everywhere. But my gut feeling is Nelson is just a piss-poor ref, the likelihood of seeing him involved in any other big fights in negligible at best.
The WBO should also be held accountable for appointing Dewey, Cheatem and Howe as the judges for this one…. what were they expecting?
But was this deception? The jury will be out on this for a while but right now the stench of a three day old Shrimp on the Barbie is wafting through the air and plenty of boxing fans equate that stank to some Tom Foolery in the works.
Surprise! Surprise!
There is a rematch clause in place and it looks like Pacquiao is planning to exercise it. Feel free to assume the rematch won’t be shown for free on ESPN but instead will be a PPV promotion broadcast from the land down under. You will pay to see that one.
You can also assume Pacquiao will regain his title by knocking out Horn inside of 8 rounds.
Look, if the punchstats of this fight don’t speak for themselves, (Pacquiao was ahead in all stats by a 2 to 1 clip if not more), then Horn’s contorted grill should do all the talking anyone needs. Dudes face was riddled with lumps and bumps.
Yeah, Horn did way better than anyone expected and the bloody fight was close, but there is no way Manny lost this one…no way.
Stephen A. Smith
The A stands for A-hole. If you do not know who Ali Funeka or Randall Bailey are you have no business sitting in the studio during a boxing broadcast. Hearing you bump your gums on topics you know nothing about is almost as difficult as having to look at Dan Rafael waddle his way through the chow line in the media room on fight night.
Timothy Bradley
I am 100% convinced Bradley thought he was in Argentina and that dead silence after his slip of the tongue was due to the fact Joe and Teddy realized that Bradley genuinely did not know what side of the world he was on. They were speechless.
And thanks for letting everyone who tuned into the record breaking telecast know you were suffering from indigestion and/or diarrhea. TMI Timmy, TMI !
And just to help clear things up for “Desert Storm”, the huge Asian contingency at the fight were Filipino’s and not Japanese, or as Bradley referred to them, “Japans” …?
Good Grief. Can we never put a microphone in front of this guys Pie Hole again… please?
ESPN Friday Night Fights: Oscar Negrete
Can we now put to rest the stigma that Oscar Negrete does not have any power. On his way to capturing the NABF Bantamweight title the high volume punching Negrete dropped Sergio Frias early before forcing him to quit on his stool before round nine. After the fight Negrete stated he wants Randy Caballero. I can neither confirm or deny the rumor that Caballero twisted his other ankle while high-tailing out of the Coachella Valley. I can tell you that like the other injury, there is no medical evidence to confirm Caballero is truly hurt.
Isn’t it great to have real fights put on by real promoters back on the ESPN airwaves?
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Robbery,failure,humiliation,stunning,time wasted,trickery,…need I say more.Jeff Horn should surrender that belt to proper authority and save face…oh my,anything left on that face after what The Pacman did to it?
I thought Pacquiao won eight rounds and as some judges would have scored the ninth 10-8 in his favour, he won by scores of 116-112 or 116-111. A lot of the rounds were fairly close, but Horn kept missing all night long. He was outpunched in most of the rounds by a clear margin. I don’t think Horn cheated in the fight – both guys kept banging heads and both boxers got cut.
Having said all that, this is the third fight so far this year in which an older boxer should have won by knockout, but failed to close the show when the chance beckoned.
Gennady Golovkin had his chance against Daniel Jacobs and chose to conserve his energy. He got away with it thanks to some judging that was every bit as bad as the main event in Brisbane. Wladimir Klitschko had a full three rounds with his exhausted opponent at his mercy and decided to stick to the jab and grab tactics that used to serve him so well. Pacquiao had Horn right where he wanted him at the end of the ninth round and he didn’t follow up in the tenth. That gave those judges a chance to make mistakes.
Jeff Horn would be beaten by Keith Thurman, Erroll Spence, Kell Brooke, Danny Garcia and even Amir Khan. He’s not a genuine top ten welterweight. That dubious win over Manny Pacquiao might have done the Filipino a favour because he would have lost badly to a good young welterweight and losses at that age tend to cause long term damage.
I have to agree with pretty much everything you state here McGarry. Too bad the judges were scoring all those missed punches for Horn. Let’s be clear, GGG beat Jacobs, there was no foul play there. And Joshua stopped Wlad through his clutching tactics…hard to see Wlad coming out oin top now or ever.
Horn will go on to have a good payday or two but he will be relegated to stepping stone in less than two years.