The resounding opinion after Manny Pacquiao lost by unanimous decision to Jeff Horn in Brisbane on Sunday was that Pacquiao was robbed and boxing is corrupt.

Both are accurate assessments, especially considering that the Filipino eight-division world champion landed 32 per cent of his punches thrown, while Australia’s Horn landed only 15 per cent.

When you’re talking about someone of Pacquiao’s stature in the sport versus the virtually unheard of Horn though, such excuses shouldn’t have to be relied upon, however valid.

If 38-year-old Pacquiao is still in this game to compete — and not just make more money that he doesn’t need — then he shouldn’t be taking such fights against 29-year-old nobodies in the first place, and he certainly shouldn’t be missing opportunities to knock them out like he had in the ninth.

He only has himself to blame for letting fights against such opponents go the distance, and so he can’t complain when the judges opt in favour of the home crowd favourite.

If he was seriously mounting a rematch bid with Floyd Mayweather — with whom he lost a long-awaited mega-fight by unanimous decision in 2015 — then he should be eating the likes of Horn for breakfast. But now if he can’t even stop the likes of Horn, why is he even bothering to hang around for Mayweather?

Even before this fight, hanging on for a Mayweather rematch seemed over-hopeful. For a start, after the 2015 bore-fest there will be few takers for a rematch, and anyway Mayweather’s Rocky Marciano record-equalling unbeaten 50th will be against UFC’s Conor McGregor on August 26, making an even bigger mockery of the sport.

A lot of noise will now centre around the unfairness of the Horn decision and the inevitable need for a rematch, prolonging Pacquiao’s stock for a little while longer.

But all this distracts from the real conversation; that Pacquiao is finished, has hung around far too long, and is now just damaging his health and legacy.

Pacquiao will be remembered as one of boxing’s greatest, but he should have retired long ago, perhaps even before the Mayweather fight as he was made to wait far too long for that showdown.

After the Antonio Margarito win in 2010, when he became the first and only eight division world champion, at the age 31, would have been a perfect time to sign-off, because he arguably hasn’t achieved anything since other than showing he can come back from a beating.

The last seven years have been unfocused — split between his half-hearted dalliances with politics and basketball — fighting the same opponents Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley multiple times without much more gain than money.

That hasn’t always been his fault as he was made to hang around for Mayweather, but now things are most definitely in his hands. He can’t possibly need any more money, can’t possibly add to his legacy and reputation. He perhaps could have a rematch with Horn just to end on a high, but beyond that our positive opinion of him isn’t going to improve that much. In fact he risks an even more undignified and undeserving end, which would betray his contribution to the sport.