Jeff Horn stuns Manny Pacquiao in WBO welterweight world title fight – as it happened

Jeff Horn is the new WBO welterweight champion.

The good news is that it was a very entertaining fight on the big stage, which is all too rare for boxing of late.

The bad news is that it was another controversial decision, which is all to common in boxing.

The outcome is that boxing has a new name and drawcard in Jeff Horn. The Australian Rocky is a world champion and he won’t be teaching in school again anytime soon.

Here’s your fight report:

Pacquiao said he respects the judges’ decision. A very gracious comment considering how controversial this decision is.

Horn just challenged Floyd Mayweather to a fight in the post-fight interview and then said he would also be open to a Pacquiao rematch.

He also added that today is “not the best moment in his life,” saying that is to come with his wife who is pregnant with his first child.

What a day for Horn. He won a world title and scored major points with his wife.

Horn is now 17-0-1 and Pacquiao has lost four of his last nine.

This was a stunning outcome. Horn gave an amazing effort, but commentators on television and online (myself included) all had Pacquiao as the winner. The legend landed far more punches, but Horn was given the win. What a huge day in Australian boxing history.

In a unanimous decision -- by scores of 117-111, 115-113, 115-113 -- Horn does it!

Horn came out throwing everything he had, while Pacquiao oddly didn’t seem to try to stay away to protect his lead. Credit to both men on putting together a great show from start to finish. Give Horn the round. And give him a ton of respect and credit for making it through all 12 rounds.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Horn 10-9 Pacquiao (Pacquiao 117-111 Horn)

Horn gets through another round and his legs looks even steadier than they did in his bounce back Round 10. The problem is that he’s well behind on the cards now and has only three minutes left to land a knockout blow.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 108-101 Horn)

Well, the fight isn’t over. It looked like Horn was done after Round 9, but he lasted another one. He was partly saved by Pacquiao looking a bit tired from the onslaught of blows he threw late in the previous round. Tons of courage by Horn to come out here and keep throwing shots.

Guardian unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 98-92)

Pacquiao was the aggressor in this round and after missing on a lot of blows, he began landing regular shots. Horn looks like he has almost nothing left and the right side of his face is battered and bloody. The ref wants to stop the fight. He’s telling Horn in the corner that he has to show something in Round 10 or the fight is over.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 88-83 Horn)

Horn hit the canvas halfway through the round ... but it was from a push from Pacquiao and Horn slipping.

Round 8 was one of the tamer rounds of the bout. But we’re now through eight rounds, which is longer than many expected the bout to last. We’re about to see if Horn’s youth -- he’s 9 years younger than Pacquiao -- has any impact as we hit the later rounds.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 78-74 Horn)

Horn continues to try to take the fight to Pacquiao ... but he also continues to miss on more punches than Pacquiao does. The idea entering the fight was that Horn probably had to win to keep his career moving forward, but he’s undoubtedly earned a lot of respect today even if he doesn’t pull this off.

Pacquiao now has another cut on the other side of his forehead due to another clash of heads between the fighters.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 68-65)

Pacquiao has a lot of blood spilling down his forehead due to an accidental headbutt from Horn. But the cut is up near Pacquiao’s hairline and shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

The bigger concern for Pacquiao is that Horn hit him with a hard shot to the head with about 30 seconds left. We’ll give the round to the Australian fighter who continues to stay in it.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Horn 10-9 Pacquiao (Pacquiao 58-56 Horn)

Pacquiao had a 56-27 advantage over Horn in punches landed coming into Round 5. More of the same in Round 5. Pacquiao won the round, but again: Horn isn’t going anywhere and continues to land a few solid blows every round. He’ll need to land a very solid one by the end of the match as he continues to fall behind on the scorecard.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 49-46 Horn)

Round 4 had the least amount of action of the fight so far, but it was still better than anything we saw in Mayweather-Pacquiao. It’s another round victory for Pacquiao, but Horn continues to stay in the fight and show well for himself. He could still land a big shot that matters.

Guardian’s unofficial scoring: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 39-37 Horn)

Horn has a small cut by his right eye, but it doesn’t seem to be causing him a problem so far with vision. But Pacquiao just had his best round. Horn’s strategy of quick movement back and forth seemed more like erratic lumbering in that round.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn (Pacquiao 29-28 Horn)

Horn doesn’t have a lot of lateral movement so far, but is going in and then backing back out away from Pacquaio very quickly, making it difficult for Pacquiao to line him up. Fairly even fight so far, but Horn seems to be controlling most of the pacing.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Horn 10-9 Pacquiao (Pacquiao 19-19 Horn)

Both fighters felt each other out for the first minute, until Horn attempted to land some big shots a minute in. Pacquiao laughed off the shots. Horn was then able to land a few good blows, while Pacquiao got a in some quick counter shots. Horn seems to leave himself open a bit when throwing punches and Pacquiao will likely take advantage.

Guardian’s unofficial score: Pacquiao 10-9 Horn

Referee Mark Nelson has the boxers tough gloves and here we go.

The stadium sound system is blasting “Eye of the Tiger” as both fighters ready themselves in the ring. In case the Rocky undertones weren’t stong enough already.

Pacquiao is now entering. The cheer for him is probably as loud as it was for Brisbane’s Horn. Such is the benefit of being a worldwide superstar.

Horn’s boxing origin story -- that he learned to defend himself due to being bullied in school -- has an a great ending regardless of today’s ending. He’s going to make close to $1 million today. His school age bullies probably will not.

Horn is now entering the stadium floor. It’s his first world title fight and Pacquiao’s 23rd. The nerves have to be hitting him at least a little bit right now.

It’s 20 degrees right now in Brisbane and very sunny, as the bout is happening in the middle of the afternoon so Pacquiao could get it on late-night TV in the United States. If the fight drags on, it will be interesting to see if heat affects either fighter.

The national anthems for the Philippines and Australia are now being performed. Beautiful music and then two men will punch each other as hard as they can.

Win or lose, Pacquiao will make $10 million US tonight. Horn’s guarantee is $500,000, but he is expected to make closer to $1 million thanks to bonuses from ticket sales.

Either way, it’s surely a lot more money than he made in his previous career of school teacher.

Fair.

Let’s go with: the biggest boxing event held in Australia post-1908.

Pacquiao says he has never been more motivated for a fight.

But Horn has to be fired up, too, in what is the biggest opportunity of his career before a huge crowd in his homeland.

Of course, if you’re a boxer about to enter a ring where a man is attempting to punch you repeatedly in the face, you should probably be motivated regardless of the other factors. So we can all probably agree that both fighters are plenty motivated right now.

Horn’s stated strategy in the fight is to lure Pacquiao into thinking he has an opening and then hit him with a power punch. And Horn packs a powerful punch.

But Pacquiao also has been better with his power punches of late.

There is a lot more on the line in this fight than just the WBO welterweight title. It’s really the future of two careers.

If Pacquiao loses, it would be his fourth loss in his last nine fights. His trainer said he should retire is he loses.

As for Horn, he can validate himself in the sport with a win. Many outside of Australia don’t know who he is yet. That can end today.

Ancajas just beat Kinoshita after the referee stopped the fight following a knockdown body blow at 1:53 in Round 7.

So that means we’re officially on the clock for Pacquiao-Horn.

Here’s the tale of the tape for the main event:

Pacquiao ... v ... Horn

59 ... WINS ... 16

6 ... LOSSES ... 0

38 ... KOs ... 11

2 ... DRAWS ... 1

38 ... AGE ... 29

Today is the biggest boxing event ever hosted in Australia, held before a huge crowd at Suncorp Stadium. Manny Pacquiao is a heavy favorite over Horn at -600.

But we’ve already seen an upset on the undercard by an Australian fighter over a name boxer. In the first bout of the day, David Toussaint beat Shane Mosley, Jr., in a split decision.

Welcome to The Guardian liveblog for today’s Manny Pacquiao v Jeff Horn fight for the WBO welterweight world title.

We’re about to open Round 5 (of 12) in the third, and final, undercard bout before the main event. Jerwin Ancajas is defending his IBF World Junior Bantamweight Championship against Teiru Kinoshita -- and blood is currently filling the right eye of Kinoshita.

Please feel free to participate in the liveblog via my e-mail linked above or on Twitter at @DJGalloEtc.

DJ will be here shortly. Undoubtedly, this is the biggest fight of Jeff Horn’s career, but the stakes couldn’t be higher for Manny Pacquiao, given these comments from earlier in the week by his legendary trainer: