Top Rank's Bob Arum, who was the one responsible for orchestrating the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn fight, said he believed Horn won the fight and defended the highly-criticized judging on that July 1 fight.
Pacquiao's time as a Senator in his native Philippines has been well-documented, with his boxing career now working around his new, busier schedule. Arum said in the post-fight press conference that Pacquiao can't be a world-class boxer while spending so much time out of the ring as a senator at the same time.
?I think you cannot spend so much time as a senator and expect to be a world-class fighter,? Arum said.
On the matter of the very controversial decision in that fight, Horn won via unanimous decision (117-111, 115-113, 115-113), Arum didn't see anything wrong with how the fight was scored. Pacquiao lost the WBO welterweight title in his first defense since beating Jessie Vargas last November.
?In the first two rounds two of the judges had it for Jeff, both rounds, and one judge had the first round for Jeff and the second round for Manny," Arum said. "So that?s quite correct that and I thought that Jeff, watching it, had gotten off to a big lead. And then Manny came back, and then Jeff did well at the end. That?s how it was. That?s like an Ali-Fraizer fight."
Arum said a rematch could be in the works, but a lot of details need to be ironed out before doing so.