Only an effigy of Ned Kelly was missing from ringside as Manny Pacquiao was robbed not only of his world welterweight title but perhaps, also, the fitting end to a career which is the right of great champions.
Brisbane this weekend would have been fertile hunting ground for the infamous Australian outlaw as his latter-day countryman Jeff Horn was adjudged the winner over 12 larcenous rounds of fist-fighting.
Not that Honest Jeff – unlike dear old Ned when he was rustling, killing and pillaging his way into folk-lore Down Under – was the guilty party.
Not that the neutral nationalities of the judges made this any the less of a hometown decision. Miserably, but by no means for the first time in the ring, we can only assume that the officials were swayed by the intensity of the environment in which they found themselves.
To say that Pacquiao won this fight is as obvious a statement as advising summer visitors to Alice Springs to take plenty of ice-cold drinks.
Horn, the very local man, did his very best. But as Teddy Atlas, renowned trainer and US television analyst, observed: ‘You’re not supposed to win a fight by trying, but by landing the most punches.’
Pacquiao did just that, by twice as many according to the punch statistics.
Yet two of the judges, Messrs Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan, contrived to make Horn the winner by 115-113. Even more outrageously the third, Ms Waleska Roldan, gave it to the Aussie 117-111. That was as wide of the mark as the boomerang which never came back.
Had that last score been in favour of Pacquiao it probably would have been about right. But for what it’s worth when viewed via television, I had the PacMan winning all but one of the rounds.
The more serious damage has been inflicted upon both Pacquiao’s legacy and the reputation of the fight game itself.
At 38, Pacquiao should now have the option of sailing off into his boxing sunset – and full-time politics as a Philippines Senator – following his 60th victory in a stellar 68 fight career.
Now the only fighter ever to hold world titles in eight different weight divisions has to decide whether to enact his right to a rematch – probably in Melbourne at the end of this year – so that he might go out as a winner.
Two judges scored Horn the winner by 115-113, the third outrageously had it 117-111 in his favour
Maybe he would not have retired. Maybe he would have gone on to bank one last fistful of millions.
Maybe from a farewell fight in Manilla, where on Saturday night tens of thousands watching on giants screens in the main square slumped in disbelief and despair as the result went against their national hero and a potential future president of their country.
That decision would have depended solely upon to what extent he and his master trainer Freddie Roach analysed his skills to be in decline. There can be no denying that the PacMan is less a fighting force than he was when pounding such notables as Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley to defeat.
But the problem has been complicated by this travesty. Now, as well as acknowledging that he must study his star man’s latest performance, Roach is laying the blame for the result so squarely on the officials that he is questioning whether Ms Roldan and referee Mark Nelson should be allowed near a fight ever again.
Pacquiao is assured of his place in the Hall Of Fame pantheon of all-time greats but no boxer – certainly not one as exceptional as he – wants to bow out a loser.
In less controversial circumstances Lennox Lewis led the Twitter-storm of celebrity protests by posting: ‘This is what’s wrong with boxing.’
After sharing with Floyd Mayweather half the $600billion spoils from the richest fight ever, Pacquiao does not need the money. Although many much poorer Filipinos will worry that one day he may have to scale back his phenomenal generosity as his country’s leading philanthropist.
Pacquiao has been as good for his sport as for his people. Now it is his personal pride which is at stake.
To box or not to box? Through no fault of his own, the PacMan is on the Horn of an unwanted dilemma.
