Bob Arum Calls For Investigation Into Pacquiao Fight
Manny Pacquiao lost his first fight in seven years this weekend to Timothy Bradley. But the decision wasn’t exactly unanimous. Pretty much everyone believes that Manny was cheated out of a win and now his promoter, Bob Arum, is calling for an investigation into the results of the fight.
“I want to investigate whether there was any undue influence, whether the [Nevada Athletic Commission] gave any particular instruction and how they came to this conclusion… The whole sport is in an uproar. People are going crazy. If this was a subjective view that each of [the judges] honestly held, OK. I would still disagree, but then we’re off the hook in terms of there being no conspiracy. But there needs to be an independent investigation because it strains credulity that an event everybody saw as so one-sided one way all three judges saw it as close. It strains credulity.
Arum, who represents both fighters, said:
“I’ve never been as ashamed of the sport of boxing as I am tonight.”
According to Fox, two of the judges from the Pacquiao / Bradley fight scored the outcome 115-113 in favor of Bradley, while the other scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao.
Judge Duane Ford said that the anger over the results probably comes from Pacquiao’s popularity. Ford said that if fans took a step back and really looked at the fight they would see that Bradley won. Ford said:
“If this were ‘American Idol’, without a doubt, Manny Pacquiao would have won. But it was not. I gave an honest opinion. I had Pacquiao up 4-2, I think, at the end of six rounds. I thought he hurt Bradley a couple of times early in the fight. But when the bell rang to end that round, it was over and what happens in one round doesn’t carry over to the next round. They’re separate units…Remember, it’s a boxing match and Bradley demonstrated his ability to box expertly.”
Several boxing fans are calling for a rematch but Arum said that wouldn’t happen until a full investigation was conducted.
Do you think that there should be a rematch? Do you want to see an investigation into the Pacquiao / Bradley fight?
