WBO to re-score Pacquiao-Horn, but can’t change the result

Due to the much-debated unanimous decision victory awarded to Jeff Horn over Manny Pacquiao last weekend, and based on a formal request by the The Philippines Games and Amusements Board (GAB), the WBO has decided it will re-score the Pacquiao-Horn fight, as reported by ESPN.

The GAB’s request mentioned that it was rooted in protecting the integrity of the sport while making references to missteps taken by both the referee and three official judges.

But while the WBO has agreed to re-score the fight, it openly admits that the only chance of having the official decision overturned would require some evidence of fraud or corruption.

"I would be very grateful if the GAB can provide any evidence indicating fraud or violation of law,'' WBO President Francisco Valcarcel said in a letter to the GAB dated Thursday.

"The purpose of this review is to be able to give the fans certainty of who was the winner of the bout, even though we do not have the power to reverse the decision of the judges.''

The WBO will enlist five anonymous judges to review and score the fight for themselves. At that point the sanctioning body will crunch the numbers to see how many of the five judges scored each round on an average scale of 60, 80, and 100%. Essentially this just means that at least three of the five judges will have to agree that a particular fighter won a particular round.

Ultimately the real question here, for me anyway, is what’s the point? Even if the WBO’s re-scoring shows that Pacquiao won the fight convincingly, without any plans to overturn the results, what does this accomplish exactly, beside agitating already irritable fans?