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THE PACQUIAO DEBACLE - WHO REALLY IS TO BLAME? By Ed de la Vega, DDS PhilBoxing.com Tue, 12 Jun 2012 CANOGA PARK, CA: It was a long 5 hour drive from Vegas to Canoga Park and along the way I have plenty of time to think about Saturday night at the MGM Grand. But the more I did the more I think that boxing lost a lot of its shine after the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. There were four giant winners Saturday after Tim Bradley of Palm Springs, CA grabbed the championship belt from Manny Pacquiao and with it the WBO Welterweight title. The winners of course are Tim Bradley, the City of Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao and of course, the biggest winner of all - Bob Arum. Bradley gave a good fight but from this writer?s point of view, the best Bradley could have had was a draw. But the fight was not even that close. Still the judges gave it to Bradley. Bob Arum said at the post-fight: ?How can you explain it to anybody? The power punches, the connect ratio and landed punches favor Pacquiao.? "How can Bradley win?" added Arum. ?The only good thing about it was that the young man who won is very nice,? Arum stated further. Yeah right! Did he really think the media will buy that? Adding insult to injury, Arum as of late is calling for an investigation before he sets the re-match. We all know nothing will come out of that. It will just be a charade and an added hype for a fight that was already set to happen on November 10, 2012 at the MGM. Arum said so many things Saturday night that were meant to make it appear that he was genuinely outraged. There was only one statement that was believable -- that statement in reference to the amount of money he will make on a re-match (and a possible trilogy?) But from his body language and the way they were delivered, I thought there was no pop in his statements. He tried in vain to hide it by saying that he can?t say much because he was afraid he will be fined by the Commission. When did he ever get scared by the NSAC? In the opinion of many, he knows more that what he is saying. As one dude said ?you can tell when one lies through his nose.? Consider this -- Arum stated that the fight was judged by ?three blind mice.? Why did he include Jerry Roth amongst the mice when he scored a win for Pacquiao? Was that a slip of the tongue? Was Pacquiao supposed to lose in all of the three score cards? Pacquiao?s contract with Arum will expire soon. That means Pacquiao can self promote his fights or work together with other sly foxes and make the super fight with Mayweather sometime in spring or summer next year. The possible scenario will keep Arum out of the loop and out of the mega millions that the fight will possibly generate. And if the fight is set outside of Las Vegas, the City and the State of Nevada plus the casinos will lose as well. Now would you think the power-that-be will allow that to happen? ?No way, Jose,? as my Latina dental assistant would say when she is sure things are not going to happen. They would rather see Pacquiao lose so that they can milk Pacquiao to the max via a re-match and a third possible match because Pacquiao will sure win the re-match. I am not saying that there is a conspiracy. But something is definitely wrong! A super fight with Mayweather can potentially be held in Manila just like the Ali-Frazier "Thrilla in Manila.? If you don?t believe it, ask those people who had a hand on how the Ali-Frazier Thrilla happened, explain it to you. As one friend who is intimately close with the former Marcos government stated ?it does not need a Filipino group to put up all the money because big time sponsors from the US will finance it just like they did with Ali and Frazier.? Even giant HBO will surely jump in at the opportunity of broadcasting a super fight. That possibility of the above scenario I am sure does not sink well with Arum and his ?friends?. Could that be then why Pacquiao lost the way he did? Your guess is as good as mine. Pacquiao sooner or later will lose anyway. But the way it happened at MGM last Saturday night was not the way to go. If he lost by KO or if Bradley clearly outperformed him, then it?s a different story. Up until the scores of CJ Ross and Duane Ford were announced, even Bradley knows that he lost the fight. Just check out what was reported by ESPN. Pacquiao gave almost ten good years to boxing and most importantly to Arum. Sure he made a whole lot of money. But so did Arum. Does Arum want to milk it dry and get the most from Pacquiao? Does he want everything he can get from Pacquiao?s work until the guy can?t give no more and retire? Arum may not allow the possibility of somebody else earning the last and the biggest revenue that can be generated by Pacquiao. Top sports writers in the US (48-3 as per Ryan Marquinana?s poll) overwhelmingly say that Pacquiao won over Bradley. That says a world to me. That is why in my opinion someone has a lot to do with the Bradley win. But I just can?t point it out outright. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS. |
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