It was April 1, 1990. WrestleMania 6. The main event was a barn-burner. Superstar versus superstar. Hulk Hogan?s WWF Heavyweight Title versus The Ultimate Warrior?s Intercontinental title. Hogan has been the WWF?s poster boy for ages. The WWF and the entire wrestling business would not have exploded if it wasn?t for the exploits of the yellow and orange clad behemoth. But during that night, the powers that be decided it was time for a change. They decided to put The Ultimate Warrior over at the expense of Hogan.
They knew who brought the people there, they knew who the real star was, and they knew deserved to win but because of some strange reasoning, they decided to make Hulk Hogan lose.
As The Ultimate Warrior was in the ring holding his two titles, the eyes of the 67,000 people looked elsewhere. 67,000 pairs of eyes inside the arena followed Hogan as he walked to the back.
The same thing happened yesterday.
Pacquiao deserved to win. But he didn?t. In the end, few people cared about Bradley. The attention was still transfixed on Pacquiao.
Bradley did his part. He took some good shots from Pacquiao and kept on fighting. But did he win the fight? Not by a long shot. Bradley was outlanded by about 100 punches in the entire fight. I know punch totals are not full-proof. Bradley apologists can easily say that Pacquiao may have outlanded their fighter by 20 punches in five of the rounds so the seven rounds could have been scored for Bradley.
However, punch stats also showed that Pacquiao landed more and definitely landed harder in 10 of the 12 rounds.
If we don?t score the fight with punches connected, then what the hell do we use to judge the fight? Movement? Muscles? The fact that one fighter was supposed to be knocked out but he wasn?t?
It?s hard to make sense out of anything because it does not make sense. There was no way Bradley won seven of those rounds. None whatsoever. Bradley kept punching, yes. But he was mostly hitting Pacquiao?s gloves and arms.
The only explanation I can run through my head is that the judges gave Bradley the benefit of the doubt every time Pacquiao failed to hurt him really bad. Pacquiao had to win the round convincingly, and if not, they scored it for Bradley.
Even Bradley knows this. In an interview with RingTV.com?s Lem Satterfield, Bradley said ?this guy was supposed to stop me. He was supposed to knock me out. But I took his best punches, and I fought back hard. You know what I mean?? Clearly he was giving himself extra points because he wasn?t floored, not because he defeated Pacquiao.
Case in point: Round 5. Watch it again. What did you see? The only positive I saw for Bradley in that round was that he wasn?t beaten up as horribly as he was in the fourth. Even Bradley, after watching the fight on tape, scored that round for Pacquiao. But two judges, the ones who thought Bradley won, scored that round for him.
I can?t help but think this the curse of Pacquiao?s brilliance.
Boxing made him pay for not being as dominant as he was before. In between Pacquiao?s fights against Juan Manuel Marquez, there were only two storylines for Pacquiao fights. It?s either his opponents run/cover up the entire fight or they get beaten to a bloody pulp. This may have been boxing?s way of trying to wake the dragon again.
This could also be boxing?s way of saving itself. The sport knows that Pacquiao won?t be fighting for much longer. It tried to force a passing of the torch or ensured at least one more mega-fight this November. Boxing knows it will survive long after Pacquiao is gone. It does not mean it can?t milk him while he?s still here.
Manny Pacquiao was betrayed by boxing. All the true fans of boxing were betrayed too.
How can you not have doubts on a promoter who will make more money on a rematch? How can you trust the judges when one of them says ?Bradley schooled Pacquiao? when nothing remotely close to that happened? How can you trust a decision knowing that a ton of late money came in for Bradley for no apparent reason?
I wish we can all deal with this loss with the same class that Pacquiao portrayed inside that ring. He was at peace with the decision because he knew in his heart of hearts that he won the fight.
But right now I can?t do that. I?m bitter about it.
I believe that this win tarnishes Bradley?s legacy more than it helps it. If he lost, people will remember it as a good performance. History will remember that Bradley stood toe-to-toe with Pacquiao and never stopped fighting. Now, no one will remember anything about this fight except for the fact that it was one of the most brutal robberies this sport has ever seen.
Bradley was The Ultimate Warrior. He won when he did not deserve to. What happened to Warrior after that? Well he crashed and burned; a flash in the pan never to be heard from again. And in the years that came, the entire WWF organization knew it was a horrible decision on their part. They struggled with Warrior as their champion because, well, because he wasn?t Hulk Hogan.
Pacquiao, in my opinion, should refuse a rematch. What will he prove against Bradley? He has already showed the world that he is the better fighter. Pacquiao knows he won the fight and he is happy with his performance. He should not be forced to do it again to convince two blind judges otherwise. Bradley was the champion they chose so make the sport live with that decision. Let the sport have the champion it deserves.
Should Pacquiao take a rematch to regain the WBO welterweight belt? Nope. The champion makes the belt prestigious, not the other way around. People should not care is Pacquiao holds a belt or not. His battles against Erik Morales did not involve a world title but Pacquiao performed tremendously.
But most of all, Pacquiao should not give Bradley a rematch because he does not deserve the 10 million dollars he is demanding. Let him fight mandatory title defenses. Don?t give him the chance again. Make him go back to his old pay-grade. Even if he ?won,? no one will watch Bradley on pay-per-view unless it?s against Pacquiao.
Pacquiao has done his part for boxing. He came in and performed to the best of his abilities every single time. He was a true sportsman who in all likelihood we will never see again. Pacquiao could have erred on the side of caution so many times but he chose to engage much bigger fighters to send the crowd home happy. He was great to boxing fans and he did not deserve what was done to him.
You don?t have to save boxing anymore, Manny. Tama na. Fight whoever you want to fight, at your own time, and however you feel like it. You?ve done your part. Tama na.
