LAS VEGAS ? Murad Muhammad, the New Jersey-based promoter of Manny Pacquiao, said on Sunday that he will urge the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to hand the Filipino boxer a split decision victory after one of the judges during Saturday night?s featherweight title fight admitted he ?just screwed up? and that he ?dropped the ball.?
Muhammad also claimed that referee Joe Cortez, working on his 163rd world title fight, should have already reached the count of ten after Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico hit the deck for the third time late in the first round after absorbing a vicious one-two from Pacquiao at the MGM Grand.
Burt Clements of Reno told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he was unaware that a judge could give a 10-6 round in the event three knockdowns are scored in one round. Had Clements scored it a 10-6, Pacquiao would have been the declared the winner.
