Pacquiao, boxing fans got robbed
A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Las Vegas
Timothy Bradley Jr. W12 Manny Pacquiao
Welterweight
Wins a welterweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice) Bradley, 115-113 Pacquiao
Records: Bradley Jr. (29-0, 12 KOs); Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Where do we even begin? How about with this: The decision will go down as one of the worst, most bogus calls in the whole history of boxing. It was a disgrace. Shameful. Pathetic. We are not talking about a fight that was really close with several tight rounds that could have gone either way, so reasonable people can have a different opinion. No, we're talking about a fight that Pacquiao dominated. But judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford both had it for Bradley, the junior welterweight titleholder who moved up in weight to challenge Pacquiao. Even Jerry Roth, who had it for Pacquiao, doesn't deserve a pass for having it even that close. The prevailing scores at ringside ranged anywhere from 119-109 (11-1) to 116-112 (8-4), with a few who had it 115-113 (7-5). HBO's announcers had it wide for Pacquiao. The crowd of 14,206 at the MGM Grand, admittedly a pro-Pacquiao house, clearly thought he had won, and boos rained down after the decision was announced. Frankly, other than Ross and Ford, Pacquiao was deemed the clear winner without question. CompuBox punch statistics are not the gospel, but they usually give a reasonable guide to a fight in terms of quantity of punches (not quality, but Pacquiao was very obviously the heavier hitter). Pacquiao dominated those stats. He landed more blows than Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds. He landed 253 of 751 punches (34 percent), while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 percent). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power punches (190-108). If you missed it and want to score for yourself, HBO will replay the fight on Saturday night (10 ET) before live coverage of middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s defense against Andy Lee.
Pacquiao, with his life under better control than it was and with his newfound devotion to his Catholic faith, looked far better than he did in November when he won a controversial decision against rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their third fight -- which was indeed very close and could have gone either way.
Pacquiao landed his left hand at will against Bradley and he rocked him many times during the fight. He did much more damage. All credit to Bradley for coming to fight, showing heart to hang in there, especially after injuring both feet -- a fracture in his left foot in the second round and a twisted and swollen right ankle in the fifth round. He came to the postfight news conference in a wheelchair. He also came as the owner of a welterweight belt, which he did not deserve, no matter how good of a guy he is or how hard he fought.
Pacquiao, 33, the national hero of the Philippines and boxing's only eight-division champion, was making the fourth defense of his welterweight belt and looked like he would easily retain it. He got off to a fast start by dominating the first half of the fight. He controlled the fight with relative ease. While Pacquiao did slow down a little in the second half of the bout, when Bradley might have won three rounds at most, Pacquiao was still in command. Bradley's punches had no power on them and he didn't even land all that many.
As good as Pacquiao looked, we are likely to see a rematch with Bradley, 28, of Palm Springs, Calif., on Nov. 10, even though it would have been utterly unnecessary had Ross and Ford had good nights. Pacquiao, who made a minimum of $26 million, has a rematch clause and said he intends to exercise it. Bradley, who made a career-best $5 million minimum, will be happy to live up to the contract and fight Pacquiao again. It means an even bigger payday.
If the rematch takes place and Pacquiao dominates again and gets the decision, it still won't make up for the damage to boxing that this fight did. So many people are upset over what happened and it's hard to blame them. You pay $54.95 -- more for HD! -- and watch a pretty good fight, and then have an incomprehensible result. It makes you angry and not want to buy or support boxing in the future. The sport is killing itself with decisions like this one. Bad ones happen too often, but often go ignored until it happens with a megastar. It is doubtful there was any corruption involved here, just horrible jobs by the two judges. What boxing needs is a more clearly defined criteria on how to score a round instead of leaving it to the whim of a judge at ringside. Bottom line: Pacquiao won, but got robbed. Boxing fans lost and got robbed, too.
Jorge Arce No-Decision 2 Jesus Rojas
Junior featherweight
Records: Arce (60-6-2, 46 KOs); Rojas (18-1-1, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For many years, Arce, 32, of Mexico, has been one of boxing's most dependable brawlers. Put him in the ring with anyone and usually it will be a crowd-pleasing fight. On this night, it looked like we were in for another treat after a blistering opening round in which Arce and Rojas, 25, of Puerto Rico, combined to land a staggering 73 of 170 punches thrown, and Arce scored a knockdown. However, the fight was short-circuited in the second round by an accidental foul -- fouls, really -- that left Arce unable to continue, and the fight was ruled a no-decision. It seemed as though Rojas committed three virtually simultaneous accidental fouls -- a head butt, a left hand to below the belt and a left hand behind Arce's head. Arce was down and appeared to be in pain, especially around his neck after taking the shot behind the head. Referee Kenny Bayless called timeout, and there was a delay as the ringside doctor examined Arce. Eventually, it was determined that Arce could not continue, and the fight was called off in a big disappointment. Arce, a reigning bantamweight titlist, was fighting a nontitle bout at junior featherweight in anticipation of a likely fight with titleholder Nonito Donaire in the fall. Arce has won titles in three weight classes (plus an interim title in a fourth), including junior featherweight, and Top Rank has talked about the match with Donaire for a while. Donaire must win his unification fight with Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7. Rojas called for a rematch and said Arce was just looking for a way out of the fight. There probably won't be a rematch, certainly not before the proposed Donaire fight, and for all of the blood Arce has spilled and guts he has shown, it's hard to believe he was not legitimately hurt.
Randall Bailey KO11 Mike Jones
Junior featherweight
Wins a vacant welterweight title
Records: Bailey (43-7, 37 KOs); Jones (26-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Let's cut right to the chase here: For nine-plus rounds, this fight stunk out loud. It was a...
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