Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley was a match that many fight fans were looking forward to, but boxing and the Nevada State Athletic Commission managed to sucker punch Pacquiao.
With the NHL and NBA finals on at the same time, many sports fans were still focused on the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight. The undercard was extremely disappointing, but all would be forgiven with a great headline fight. A good fight is exactly what fans received, it could have been more exciting, but that is always the case. Both fighters fought hard, but in the end it was clear that Pacquiao had done enough to earn the decision. Enter the judges; one judge gave the nod to Pacquiao, and the other two chose different. They were the majority and gifted Bradley a split-decision win.
This fight was far from a photo finish, which was why no one could understand the thinking of the two judges. In his interview after the fight Bradley himself couldn’t confirm that he actually won, he said “he would have to look at the tape.”
There was already a rematch clause in the contract which just increases the conspiracy theories and bad pr for boxing. In general fight fans do not want to choose MMA over boxing, they are happy to like both, but boxing is so good at shooting itself in the foot.
Even with the recent legal problems of several ufc fighters, mma can do no wrong, and boxing can’t get anything right. Maybe Dana White needs to take over boxing as well; he is a huge fan of the sweet science.
Tags: boxing, dana white, fight fans, manny pacquiao, mma, nba finals, nhl, split-decision, sweet science, timothy bradley, ufc, UFC Fighters, undercard
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