I HAD it 117-111 for Manny Pacquiao. I have scored hundreds of fights-not officially of course, but more often than not, I am corroborated and sustained by better analysts/ writers. In this case, the Associated Press shared my tally.
But admittedly, scoring rounds is a subjective activity and so it could perhaps be reasonably argued that Timothy Bradley won rounds 10-12 (which was what two of the three judges did), but even if I gave him those, plus rounds 1 and 7, which I also scored for him, the most he could have gotten was five rounds.
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That is an overly generous interpretation I can give to the fight, but even so, Manny should have won it, 7 rounds to 5. That would translate to a 115-113 score that Jerry Roth had for Pacquiao.
Duane Ford and CJ Ross? The identical 115-113 scores they turned in for Bradley meant they had it the other way around. But please pray tell, where on God?s green earth could you find the 7 rounds that Bradley won?
PACQUIAO. All things considered, I thought the Pacman was only at 75% potency in that fight, but even that was good enough to beat Bradley.
Blame it on distractions, declining physical abilities due to age, or lack of focus, but Manny looked winded in the middle rounds and his punches lacked the sting in the second half of the fight.
Gone also was the punching pump that had Marco Antonio Barrera befuddled and Oscar de la Hoya unable to fend off the punches of ?6 or 8 guys at the same time.?
Had Manny won any one of those last three rounds in Ford and Ross?s scorecards, he would have retained the title on a majority draw.
He really could have done better and this he admitted during the post-fight press conference as he vowed not to leave his fate in the hands of the judges in the rematch.
FORD. Duane Ford is a veteran judge of many championship fights. But I am often at odds with the metric he uses in judging fights.
Ford was also one of the judges in the controversial De la Hoya- Mosley rematch where he scored it 115-113 for Mosley.
Ford also had an improbable 116-112 decision in favor of Eric Morel, despite the fact that Gerry Pe?alosa was boxing his ears off in 2010.
BRADLEY. It?s hard to dislike Bradley who, after all, is just a fighter doing his job on top of the ring.
But his body language before the verdict was announced was one of defeat. However, when he was declared the winner he waxed poetic about his ?clear victory.?
He also boasted he didn?t feel Manny?s power at all. That must explain why he avoided the exchanges and opted to move around the last couple of rounds.
ARUM. To his credit, bellicose Bob stood up for Manny and just about turned his back on another fighter he is promoting when he revealed that the Bradley team admitted they lost right before the verdict was announced.
And, oh, he also labeled the judges three blind mice.
But after all is said and done, as admitted by Arum himself, he stands to gain gazillions when the rematch happens.
His cries of ?worst decision ever? and ?I?m ashamed to associate myself with this sport?? It sounds so suspiciously familiar.
Circa 2003, after his prized ward Oscar de la Hoya lost the rematch to Mosely, Arum also briefly hinted at retirement and also promised to launch an investigation.
Of course, nothing happened. But this time around, several promoters are reportedly up in arms as they are concerned about the deleterious effects the erroneous verdict can have on the sport.
I don?t really know how they can achieve immediate results without making any major overhauls in the arcane rules that govern the sport, but if something virtuous comes out of this, then the debacle last Sunday would have been Manny?s ultimate sacrifice for the good of the sport.
LAST ROUND. It?s on our newly-minted Civil Engineer from Brgy. Union, Dapa, Surigao Del Norte, Joleovel N. Reyes. Cheers for making your parents proud!
