Horn seemed as shocked as anyone that he got the decision, if body language means anything, but he said he thought he won what will go down as the biggest fight in Australian history.
“I thought I was coming forward more and landing the cleaner blows,” Horn said. “That’s just my opinion.”
Asked how he managed to win, he struggled for words at first.
“I don’t know. I guess with the crowd behind me and all the support,” said Horn, who was Pacquiao’s mandatory challenger. “I’ve just believed since I was young that I could do this. There’s lots of thoughts going through [my mind]. I managed to get the decision. It was close.”
It did not appear to be all that close, however, even though the action far exceeded the modest expectations going into the fight. Pacquiao also dominated the CompuBox punch statistics, getting credit for landing 182 of 573 blows (32 percent), while Horn landed 92 of 625 (15 percent). Pacquiao also landed more punches in 11 of the 12 rounds, according to CompuBox.
Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) tried to rough Pacquiao up and landed a couple of shots in the first round, but Horn also had his mouthpiece dislodged. Still, Horn was extremely aggressive and busy.
But Pacquiao came back strong in the second round, landing two very solid straight left hands, but the chin of Horn, who has been knocked down a few times in his career, held up.
In the third round, Pacquiao continued to land and opened a cut over Horn’s right eye, which got worse as the fight went on.
Horn was trying very hard to land big punches and spent the fight bulling forward and trying to smother the faster Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs).