Bradley vs Pacquiao – the controversy won’t go away
(R-L) Timothy Bradley prepares to deliver a left against Manny Pacquiao during their WBO welterweight title fight. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
At this point, it looks like that condemnation, the rant we heard about the judges’ incompetence from announcers Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, Harold Lederman and Emanuel Steward was a bit overblown. After all their total assessment was off the mark as well.
It might be better if the announcers were the ones getting censured. From now on, it appears we’ll have to watch the fights on HBO and Showtime without sound. How else can we arrive at an uncluttered, intelligible, lucid opinion.
The attached video appears to justify this notion and suggests the people working the Manny Pacquiao versus Timothy Bradley title fight may have been biased or perhaps delusional at times.
When they couldn’t see what was happening, they simply made things up. Personally, I scored the bout 6 rounds for Pacquiao and five rounds for Bradley with one round too close to call. When a match is that close, perhaps extending the fight an additional three rounds should be an option presented to each corner. Let the boxer and his trusted trainer decide. Boxers go through so much to get to this point that a draw or a wrong decision by way of a split decision is more than appalling – it’s monstrous.
As the video of this fight suggests, Letterman and Jim Lampley were the worst offenders – more so than any judge. After watching this fight over and over again, you realize it was not the robbery the media suggested. Many of the rounds were just too close, and since a judge is forced to call it one way or another, it’s possible that if much of the fight is away from his or her view and you have only a fighter’s back for most of the fight, than errors can be made.
Here we see the Harold Lederman scorecard from Saturday, June 9, 2012.
But in this one, the bad judge’s initials are H. L. for scoring the bout 11-1 for Pacquiao. Why would he do such a thing? They’ll say it’s because Pacquiao is an in-house HBO fighter.
Let’s be truthful, the fight was a nightmare to score because of the fighters’ quick hands, savvy defense and the many punches landing on the gloves.
Point #2 is the quote that made its rounds, an actual put down of Bradley suggesting he knew he had lost the fight. Was that bull or do we believe Bradley?
On Wednesday, the WBO welterweight champion, Timothy Bradley, called Bob Arum, his promoter, a liar for comments made in the wake of the controversial win over Manny Pacquiao. Arum claimed that before the judges awarded the victory to Bradley, the fighter told him: “I tried hard but I couldn’t beat the guy.”
Bradley denies saying anything of the sort. “I never told Bob that at all. He’s a liar and I will tell him that to his face,” Bradley told the Desert Sun. “I told Bob I did the best I can. I got injured. That was it. That’s all I said to Bob. I didn’t say, ‘Bob, I couldn’t beat that guy.’ I would never say that, because I thought I won the fight. Bob’s going to say that because Pacquiao is his cash cow. The fact he lost to me, that’s hard on him. That’s hard on everyone.”
That being said, Bradley doesn’t want to rule out the possibility of working with Arum, who runs Top Rank Promotions. Bradley’s decision to link up with Top Rank helped him secure that lucrative fight with Pacquiao and could once again secure a big payday for him on November 10, 2012 – the date he had on that very large ticket.
(L-R) Timothy Bradley lands a right to the head of Manny Pacquiao during their WBO welterweight title fight. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
“I have nothing but love for Top Rank,” said Bradley. “I have nothing but love for the people. This is a business and some things are said and taken out of context. It is what it is. When I see him, we’ll settle this. I’m a big man, I’ll talk to him.” Of course he will if he can deliver upwards to 15 million dollars for that rematch. I’t like talking to the devil himself.
(L-R) Manny Pacquiao lands a right to the head of Timothy Bradley during their title fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
At this point the WBO has begun a review into the Pacquiao versus Bradley fight and the judges are on the hot seat. This occurred because of the nearly-universal condemnation and the fact that 77 boxing journalists stated they thought Pacquiao had won the fight. Just one reporter said he had Bradley winning the fight.
At this time, the WBO has five international judges looking at film of the fight and they will offer their opinion. If they agree it’s a huge error, then the WBO has the power to order a rematch, but they cannot strip Bradley of his title.
Follow-up, Wednesday, June 21, 2012 – WBO ruling issued stating all five of the judges believe Manny Pacquiao won the fight. So what happens now? Since there was a rematch clause written into the original fight contract, Pacquiao can either have his rematch or balk at any suggestion of a rematch. Will he want to fight Bradley again? Only if the money is right.
