CasinoNow

Manny Pacquiao a Victim of Grand Larceny

by Ian S. Palmer

Daylight robbery! Grand larceny! Highway robbery! Whatever you want to call it, Manny Pacquiao was a victim of it in Las Vegas on June 9 and it was witnessed by about 14,000 in attendance at the MGM Grand as well as millions more around the world. How he could lose his WBO Welterweight Championship to Timothy Bradley by a split decision of 115-113, 115-113, 113-115, is beyond belief to people from to Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between.

Many fans are saying they’ll never watch another bout and boxing is dead after this latest outrageous incident, and if it isn’t, it’s certainly got to be on its last legs. Famed corner man and ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas seemed to have hit the nail on the head when he said boxing’s either suffering from corruption or incompetence or perhaps a combination of the two. The numbers were there for everybody to see.

Pacquiao out landed Bradley in every round except the ninth, when Bradley beat him to the punch 26 to 25 and in the 10th when they both landed 14 shots. Pacquiao landed 253 out of 751 total punches for a connect rate of 34 per cent compared to Bradley’s 19 per cent which came from landing 159 out of 839 total punches. Pacquiao also had the edge in power punches at 190 out of 493 for 39 per cent as opposed to Bradley’s 108 for 390 for 28 per cent.

All types of conspiracy theories are buzzing around the internet and while some of them seem to make sense, it’s just shocking that the wool was pulled over the public’s eye in a bout that wasn’t even close. At the worst, Pacquiao won eight out of 12 rounds, which would have given him a 116-112 decision and at best he won all 12 of them for a 120-108 win.

A lot of fingers are being pointed at Top Rank promoter Bob Arum since he represents both fighters in this mess. A rematch means everybody profits again. These are the promoters and the WBO, which will get its sanctioning fee, as well as the fighters. But where does it end? If Pacquiao beats Bradley again in a rematch, only officially this time, doesn’t that mean a third fight is needed to settle the score?

This controversy isn’t going to go away and will go down in history as one of the worst decisions of this and any other boxing era. In fact, it’s hard to think of one in recent memory that was as bad as this and there are certainly lots to choose from. Boxing forums usually feature raging debates and arguments for weeks on end after bad decisions. However, that’s going to be a little difficult this time since there isn’t really anything to argue.

Even the captain of the debate team would have a hard time defending this one and it appears that Bradley himself isn’t so sure he won the fight. He stated that he’ll go home and watch the tape before making a decision. He’s not to be blamed though. He went out and did his best and even though it wasn’t quite good enough to win the fight he’s now the new WBO welterweight king. The way his luck’s going he might want to head over to the nearest corner store and buy a lottery ticket for the next big jackpot.

The boxing circus will continue and fans will be expected to dish out more money for a supposed November 10th rematch. You can be this won’t be the last case of a fight being judged by three blind mice. But until somebody can come up with a solution or a national body is created to oversee the sports, the fans and some boxers are going to suffer because of it.

The bottom line is that Pacquiao won this fight and since there’s no commission in place to regulate the sport, perhaps the best way to punish those involved is for the ex-champion to simply walk away from Bob Arum, refuse to fight Bradley in a rematch and carry on with his career. People are still demanding a Pacquiao vs Mayweather showdown and this ridiculous decision hasn’t changed that.

Story Courtesy: Scores.fm