Francisco Valcárcel, Esq.
President
President
July 6, 2017
Games and Amusements Board
Mr.
Abraham Kahlil B. Mitra – Chairman
Messrs. Eduard B.
Trinidad & Mr. Matthew P. Gaston
Commissioners
2/F Legaspi Tower 200,
Paseo de Roxas St.
Legaspi Village Makati
City 1226, Philippines
Re: 7/2/17
Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn Bout – Australia
Gentlemen:
I refer to your letter
dated July 3rd 2017 requesting, “…a thorough review by the WBO for possible
miscalls of the referee where some deductions were not made and of the judges
in their judging that have caused varying opinions on their objectivity. We are
making this request for a review, which may call for sanctions on the referee
and judges if so warranted, in furtherance of our mutual goal of protecting the
integrity of the sport and even more improving the boxing industry that we all
love.”
We must make it clear
that an Official’s discretion, whether Judge or Referee, is irrevocable. The
decision of an Official should only be revoked when fraud or violations of the
Law occur. I assure you that the Officials who participated in this fight are
all professional, distinguished, honest and honorable human beings. Can you
imagine the Nevada State Athletic Commission investigating Referee Tony Weeks
because he did not deduct points during the Kovalev fight!
The World Boxing
Organization does not have jurisdiction in the first instance to revoke any
decision, as that would correspond to the Australian National Boxing
Federation.
I would be very grateful
if the Philippines Games and Amusements Board (GAB) can provide any evidence
indicating fraud or violation of Law. Please forward it immediately to
the Australian National Boxing Federation and to the WBO so that we may proceed
accordingly.
Although this is the
situation, as I previously publicly stated, we will appoint five (5) anonymous
competent Judges from different countries to watch the bout without sound
distraction. Then, we will tabulate the results to ascertain clearly
which rounds each fighter won using an average scale based on 60, 80 and 100
per cent. This means that 3 of the 5 officials have to agree to determine
which fighter won the round.
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 based on discretion and, in this case, we do have a rematch clause on
the fight contract.
I take this opportunity
to wish you success in all your endeavors and tell you that I was most pleased
to have had the opportunity of personally greeting you in Australia last
week.
Thank you.
Cordially,
Francisco Valcarcel, Esq.
Cc: Luis Batista Salas,
Esq.
The above letter was written on July 6, 2017 by the World Boxing Organization through its President Francisco Valcarcel in response to the Philippine's Games and Amusement Board's request to review the PacHorn fight. The letter can be found in the WBO official website.
