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PrintEverybody at MGM Grand and at home and in the sportsbooks and on Twitter thought that Manny Pacquiao had won a unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley.
But the only people who matter, the three judges sitting ringside, saw the fight differently.
- Judge No. 1 scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao.
- Judge No. 2 scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bradley.
- Judge No. 3 scored the fight 115-113 in favor of … Bradley!
It was a shocking result, particularly when you consider that HBO ringside judge Howard Lederman and ESPN boxing analyst Dan Rafael both scored the fight 119-109, giving Bradley the edge in just one round. The majority of fight observers—including several in the media—didn’t think Bradley was worthy of earning the win in more than two or three rounds, at most.
Pacquiao was listed as a -450 favorite at most sportsbooks.
Afterward, ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas cried corruption.
From Bad Left Hook:
“Unfortunately, the scorers of fights are incompetent. Sometimes they’re more than incompetent. Sometimes they’re corrupt. (Boxing) doesn’t have a national commission, like other sports do. Doesn’t have a police body, like other sports have. And therefore you get this kind of situation. I’m not sure if it’s accurate that Pacquiao was about to leave one of the kingpins of the sport, Bob Arum. His contract was running out. But I think it was. And when that happens, sometimes funny things happen. But the bottom line is, if you’re an honest man, if you’re a competent person that knows what he’s watching, Pacquiao won that fight. Only one man won that fight. And, you know, he doesn’t get the decision. It’s an injustice to the sport, injustice to the fighters, injustice to the fanbase. It’s one of the fallacies. It’s one of the problems with the sport of boxing right now is that the wrong guy wins sometimes.”
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These tweets from Payne Insider after the fight summed everything up perfectly (read bottom to top).
