{"id":2721,"date":"2017-07-03T02:47:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T02:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2721"},"modified":"2017-07-03T02:47:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T02:47:37","slug":"you-could-smell-the-pacquiao-horn-boxing-decision-from-australia-to-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=2721","title":{"rendered":"You could smell the Pacquiao-Horn boxing decision from Australia to here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TERRY MOSHER<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

MANNY PACQUIAO<\/h3>\n

Professional boxing has had some golden years when Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas \u201cHitman\u201d Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler were all around.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0But it also has taken some hits, some black eyes, when in the 1940s and 50s the Mafia and other thugs were involved and fixing fights. It doesn\u2019t help the spot that there also have been a lot of \u201chometown\u201d decisions that plain as daylight were highway robbery.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0That was the case Sunday in Brisbane, Australia when the hometown golden boy Jeff Horn, unbeaten with just a draw after 16 bouts, scored an unanimous victory over one of boxing\u2019s true legends, Manny Pacquiao, by scores of 17-11, 15-13, 15-13 drawing loud anger from the shores of America.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0This decision was almost as bad as the one in 1947 when the judges gave the decision to a clearly beaten Joe Louis in a fight with Jersey Joe Walcott. Louis apologized to Walcott after the fight because he knew he had lost.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Pacquiao was robbed another time. In 2012 he lost a split decision to Timothy Bradley even though 50 of the 53 reporters at ringside covering the fight had Pacquiao winning.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0What I couldn\u2019t figure out is why Pacquiao would take the fight in Horn\u2019s home country knowing there was a possibility that he would lose a hometown decision. The money must have been awful good.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Decisions like this along with the early times when boxers clearly took dives to make better money is what has always given the sport a black eye. It\u2019s part of the reason that MMA has become the bigger TV sport.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0But those decisions really stun me although I know they happen when a fighter no matter how good steps into foreign territory against the hometown favorite. Judges tend to give the hometown boy the edge if there is any doubt.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0There should have been no doubt, however, in this one. I have covered boxing for many years as a local sports reporter and before that I was an avid listener to boxing that was aired on radio before the spread of TVs into about every home in America. Then when boxing moved to TV, I was front and center in front of our TV watching every fight I could.<\/h3>\n

I guess this is my roundabout way of saying I know boxing. I score every bout I see on TV and most of the time I\u2019m right there with ringside judges on the scoring.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0So how did I score this one?<\/h3>\n

\u00a0I had Pacquiao winning 117-111. I could see it being 116-112 because Horn put up a good fight. In the ninth round, Pacquiao battered Horn from ringpost to ringpost and clearly won that round 10-8.<\/h3>\n

So how did he lose?<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Hometown golden boy gets the nod. \u00a0But it was a horrible decision, and that is why, as I have said, boxing will always have that black eye.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Enough of my preaching. I\u2019m off my soapbox. Enjoy the Fourth of July. Don\u2019t get hurt and say away from fighting on your opponent\u2019s turf.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Be well pal.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Be careful out there.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Have a great day.<\/h3>\n

\u00a0You are loved.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TERRY MOSHER MANNY PACQUIAO Professional boxing has had some golden years when Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions\/2723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}