Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen chimed in on Saturday’s Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather, Jr fight in Las Vegas, condemning the “unbelievable” unanimous decision by the judges in favor of Mayweather.
In what was dubbed “the fight of the century,” all three judges scored the match in favor of Mayweather, with two of them scoring it 116-112 and a third having it 118-110.
But on Monday, according to The Cambodia Daily, Hun Sen launched into a 15-minute tirade about a perceived “injustice created by the judges” during a ground-breaking ceremony of a road in Pursat province. He suggested that Mayweather only won the fight because it was staged in U.S. soil and scored by U.S. judges. He also argued that Pacquiao had thrown many more punches – an insight that runs contrary to widely-cited statistics by CompuBox, which suggested that Mayweather had actually thrown six more punches and landed 67 more.
“I send a message to American judges to provide an explanation for why Floyd won,” Hun Sen reportedly said. “Floyd was just running around – blocking and avoiding – while Pacquiao repeatedly threw more and more punches, punching him to lie against the ropes.”
“I didn’t expect that American judges would be so weak,” he continued. “I just know America clearly now. Judges made a unanimous decision to make a winner become a loser.”
Hun Sen was hardly a neutral party, as he had placed a $5,000 bet in favor of Pacquiao. But given the perceived injustice by the judges, the Cambodian leader said he had decided that he would not be paying his bet.
“Now if we are talking about yesterday’s fight, I owe you, but I will not pay,” he said.
According to The Phnom Penh Post, U.S. embassy spokesman Jay Raman declined to comment on the premier’s remarks.