LOS ANGELES – Imagine the greatest achievement of your life arriving, and moments later someone you’ve never met tells you, in front of a television audience, that it’s not real.

That you don’t deserve it. That the prize you strove for shouldn’t be yours.

That is what happened to Australian boxer Jeff Horn this month, when he completed a unanimous-decision upset of Manny Pacquiao, only for it to be instantly questioned.

ESPN analysts Teddy Atlas and Stephen A. Smith shrieked the loudest, with Atlas telling Horn on ESPN’s telecast that he should have lost.

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“Inside my heart I felt like I had won but to have him say it right to my face was heartbreaking,” Horn told a group of reporters including USA TODAY Sports this week. “I lost a little bit of respect for Teddy after that.

“It was the moment of my career, one of the most special moments of my life and it did take away from it a little bit.”

Horn arrived in the United States on Tuesday morning with his pregnant wife Jo and has found a measure of vindication over the past few days. The comments of Atlas and Smith riled up the public in the U.S. and the Philippines — yet virtually nowhere else.

The WBO sanctioning body commissioned five professional judges to watch a replay of the fight and score it independently – and all five agreed with the decision, albeit not by the 117-111 margin selected by judge Waleska Roldan.

“I felt like I had won,” Horn said. “If it had come back with (the special judging panel) saying I hadn’t I would have still felt that way. But to have them say to everyone else who has doubted it that I definitely won the fight gives me another sense of relief. It makes me feel like I have defended the title already.”

The controversy may have been spurred by Atlas' breathless gasps during the broadcast. Go back and watch the fight with the sound off. If you trust your eyes, rather than the hot air being piped into your ears, it gives you a different view on the fight.

Horn was awkward for Pacquiao to deal with, and there is no question the Filipino boxer-turned-politician does not have the ability to string together flurries of damaging punches any longer. The Australian traded with him, moved out of trouble, landed meaningful shots and can reasonably be said to have edged several of the closer and tougher rounds to score.

Regardless of what popular opinion suggests, Horn has his hands on the belt and the keys to a new life. Formerly a teacher, giving physical education lessons to high school students and general studies classes to primary school kids, Horn got into boxing at 18 after previously having been a victim of bullying.

He still drives a Mazda, but Jo was previously getting around their home city of Brisbane in a 2005 Toyota Camry with well over 100,000 miles on it. That will soon change. Their mortgage will now be paid off, and a bigger home beckons.

Inside the ring, there are now opportunities aplenty and all of them are lucrative. The most likely first option is a rematch with Pacquiao where Horn would be guaranteed at least $2 million, a fight likely to be moved from Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium due to potential weather issues around the time of promoter Bob Arum’s preferred slots of November or December.

If Pacquiao agrees to the fight, it would be switched to either Sydney or Melbourne, with the latter city boasting the Etihad Stadium, a giant indoor arena where Ronda Rousey lost her UFC title to Holly Holm in late 2015.

As WBO belt holder, it will no longer be such a challenge to get meaningful fights and significant paydays, with highly regarded Americans Keith Thurman and Errol Spence also owning titles in the welterweight division.

“I feel like I can compete with all of them,” Horn said. “My confidence level and experience level is up and everything is improving every single fight.”

Despite his success, Horn has retained a wide-eyed, down-to-earth charm. As he sat for lunch on Tuesday he looked over toward the nearby Staples Center, as the circus surrounding Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor’s extravagant press tour began to pick up pace. He remembers where he was for the last Mayweather megafight, in the arena but far, far back from ringside when the American took on Pacquiao, having been treated to a ticket by a generous sponsor.

Now, whether the doubters like it or not, he has a pass to boxing’s elite circles and the chance to make further inroads and unexpected riches.