It has taken me awhile to try to comprehend what happened in Las Vegas, but the unthinkable happened. And it had nothing to do with being out of shape, distractions, weight, endurance, height, and most importantly, not boxing. It had to do with boxing judges who either do not know what they were doing, or other sinister means were involved. Unfortunately I cannot say that it is one of the most crazy decisions I have seen in boxing, because I have seen worse. And that does not mean that it is right, not by a long stretch, but it makes a mockery again of the boxing world. Whoever the perpetrators are, and you know who you are, congratulations, you did your job good.
Although the entire world saw Manny Pacquiao, (54-4-2, 38KO’s), the eight time world champion and still current best pound for pound fighter in the world defend his WBO Welterweight title, the judges saw differently. I will state again as I said before, the opponent must undoubtedly win the majority of the rounds or knock out the champion. This clearly did not happen, and in addition, fight punch stats had Pacquiao ahead by a ridiculous margin (Pacquiao landing 253 punches to 159 for Bradley).
Although Bradley was heard to have said, “I didn’t think he was as good as everyone says, and I didn’t feel his power,” he sure felt it when Pacquiao rocked him in the fourth round and made his legs temporarily turn to jello. Even before the judges numbers were read, Bradley himself told Bob Arum “I tried hard but I couldn’t beat the guy.” Bradley’s other statement about “shocking the world” was true, but he knew this shock was an embarrassment to him and the boxing world. A big asterisk should be put next to his win on his record and it should say “The judges robbed Manny, I really lost.”
After all was said and done, the judges scorecards read 115-113 on two scorecards in favor of Bradley and the other judge calling it 115-113 for Pacquiao. The reason that last judge ruled for Pacquiao, is because it was a token score to try and convince the people that “I better rule for Manny, or this place is going to erupt,”if Bradley gets a unanimous decision. When the announcement was made Pacquiao was in total shock just as the entire world was. After the fight, all Pacquiao could say is “I did my best,” “I guess my best wasn’t good enough.” It was said that at the post fight press conference, Bradley was wheeled into the press conference. So much for a guy that said Pacquiao’s punches didn’t hurt him. Later it was said that Bradley had hurt his ankles in the fight, yeah right.
HBO’s Harold Lederman had Pacquiao winning 11 rounds to one, and the Associated Press had Pacquiao winning 117-111. Pacquiao was never hurt in the fight and the majority of Bradley’s punches were either blocked or they hit Pacquiao on the arms, something Pacquiao confirmed himself after the fight. Something similar to the ending of this fight and the last Marquez fight against Pacquiao was when Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer supposedly told him he was in control of the fight at the end of the tenth round. Although it didn’t appear that Pacquiao slowed down just as Marquez did in his fight against Pacquiao, maybe Roach should have told him to put the pressure on and win the last two rounds or you might get robbed, and then maybe things would be different. If I were Roach, I would tell Pacquiao those same words every day in his entire training camp for the rematch, which will more than likely not be in Vegas.
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