For any of the classic section who witnessed tonights fight between Pac and Bradley do you feel it was a robbery? Why or Why not
Regarding Pacquiao - Bradley, I was watching it in a room with 11 total people. About half were picking and rooting for Pac, and half for Bradley. I picked Bradley and was rooting for him. I said that Bradley's speed, condition, and underrated defense would give Pac a much tougher time of it than Pac expected. That said, I tried to score the fight honestly. I gave Bradley the 1st round and the 10th round. I scored the 8th even. I gave Pacquiao all the rest, scoring it 9-2-1 for Pac. When I heard the decision, 115-113 Pac by Jerry Roth, 115-113 for Bradley by C.J. Ross, and 115-113 for Bradley by Duane Ford, I was in complete shock. My very emotional reaction was to feel that the fight was fixed. But why? A conspiracy theorist might say that Pac and Bradley are both promoted by Top Rank, and the best way to avoid a Mayweather fight is for Bradley to win, and then they make a bundle on the rematch and the money is kept in house, and they have a great excuse for yet another fight that does not include Mayweather, and because of all the controversy over the decision, the rematch is huge, and the judges get it right the second time (or Pac stops him), and they make another bundle of money in a fight they know Pac can win. But is it possible that an honest judge scored it for Bradley? I sure didn't. That said, is it possible that on a subconscious level I was influenced either by the folks with whom I was watching the fight, or the HBO commentary? I suppose so. Everyone with whom I watched the fight agreed that Bradley was losing almost every round, and everyone thought Pac had won easily, myself included. Upon further reflection, there were many rounds where Pac didn't do all that much for 2 minutes or more. Brad did more, but not much effectively. Then Pac would come on strong in the last minute or 30 seconds and land a few solid blows, particularly with the left, the most solid and effective blows of the round, and the impression certainly was that Pac was in control of the fight. Bradley was very game and trying throughout, but the feel was that Pac was dictating, comfortable, and just too strong, and hurt Bradley when he landed. It is possible that certain judges were liking Bradley's consistent shots that did not seem to land all that hard or affect Pac much, but he was working just a bit more, while Pac stalked and loaded for the bombs. Brad snuck in some shots up the middle or around the guard, and landed a lot of solid body blows. They did not have the wow factor of Pac's blows and did not seem to do much, but I can see a judge potentially scoring them and giving Bradley credit, and perhaps not seeing Pac's big blows and combos as overcoming them. Bradley landed some nice counter shots as well. He mixed it up aplenty and showed sufficient gameness. It is also possible that when the crowd got excited over Pac's bombs, the judges saw that Bradley was moving his head a lot and making those blows miss a great deal or made them graze, so they were not giving Pac much credit. Pac probably could have stepped on the gas a tad more often in spots where he had Bradley hurt, and probably should have gone to the body more when Brad moved his head so much. Ultimately though, the irony about this fight is that I thought Pac fought a very nice fight, and when the bout ended, I had a feeling of increased admiration for him. Pac was so fast and strong, fired a lot of vicious combos, and he had fought against a game, in-shape, undefeated, quick, well-built young man, and had clearly won. The feel of the bout was that Pac was in control. His punches were too fast, too powerful, and too compact for Bradley. Bradley was in great shape, tried very hard, fought a game fight, but his punches had little effect, and Pac hurt him on several occasions in many rounds, and Pac was the one landing the solid effective blows. Even Pac's defense was pretty solid. Bradley had the look of a guy who was really trying but knew his foe was better, and deep in his heart I think he knows it. Ultimately, what can you do? It's boxing. Boxing judges give odd decisions all the time, and nothing changes because no one demands they change, not the ones with political power, or the ones with economic power. Fans all whine and moan, but it will continue to go on. It has happened before and it will happen again. If fighters and promoters don't refuse to box if judges who turn in ridiculous cards are assigned to bouts, and fail to object to those judges being assigned, then nothing will change. If fighters and promoters continue to participate in states where the commissions do not appoint competent judges, nothing will change. If commissions continue to assign judges who don't know what they are doing, nothing will change. If governors continue to appoint or legislators continue to approve commissioners who assign judges who don't know what they are doing, nothing will change. If the public continues to elect governors or legislators who don't care, then nothing will change. If the public continues to pay to see fights that take place in states with commissions that do not assign the best judges and referees, nothing will change. Nothing will change. If boxing does not bring back the 15 round championship fight, continue to expect bad decisions
Nice explanatory points I agree that Pac won the fight but of course we know the politics that go on in boxing so its something we already knew about it.
Horrible decision. I had it 117-113 for pac. I think I gave Bradley the 2nd but it was close, and gave him the 10th and 12th. I thought it was a robbery. these judges have to be forced to answer for their scorecards. They were experienced judges, but still delivered a disgraceful decision. Can anyone tell me how common is it that the judges are: forced to explain their decisions, investigated, suspended, fired, have their decision overturned?
This is everything I've been trying to explain to everyone at the party I was at.. for the past couple of hours... even the part about them both being in Top Rank.. thank you for typing all that up so I didn't have to.
For me, this was no more robbery than his last fight against Marquez. I had Pac winning by 2 pts and had Marquez winning by 1, I think. And many rds in both fights were close, so I can't really call either a robbery. I do feel pretty firmly that Pac won, considering the small margin I had him winning by, though. He landed most of the telling shots, rocking Bradley once or twice, despite Bradley being the more active one. I don't think he really bothered Pac with a blow throughout the fight. Marquez likely felt the same after he lost, though. **** obviously happpens, so Pac can't have that much to complain about. I also think it's clear that he's no longer the fighter he was before this whole politician career crap. He seems almost totally devoid of the fire he had a couple of years back, mostly going through the motions. If this defeat changes that, I for one am glad of the poor decision.
I'm watching it now and i have it six to zip for Pacquiao. In every single one of these rounds, Pacquiao has outlanded Bradley. He is the puncher in the fight. Two of the judges giving round 5 to Bradley is atrocious.
I gave the seventh to Bradley close. Pacquiao outlanded him at a ratio of better than 2:1 however. I can't understand how anyone could give Bradley this round for landing the sharper stuff and not give Pacquiao 5/6 of the first six for doing the same. It is impossible to score any of the first seven rounds to Bradley if you are interested primarily in punches landed.
I gave the eighth to Bradley but the ninth to Pacquiao. Pacquiao has outlanded his man in every single round according to the numbers. What do you have to do to win? 9-0 is OK with me now I have it 7-2. If I had been scoring the fight live, I would have stopped scoring it at this point; there's no reason to score the fight any more as soon as Pac lifts one in the second half of the fight. I mean it's obvious, right? It's easy to get right.
Very good points in there apollack. pac's lack of activity lead some fans (might even be the judges) that pac gassed up and bradley's activity sealed most of the rounds, which eventually cost Pacquiao. Most people expected Pac to be explosive and fight with high workrate, but if you dont meet that expectation, you eventually believe that pac is losing the round, irregardless of what pac have done.
Pacquiao-Marquez 3 was a poor decision. Pacquiao-Bradley was a blatant robbery. I didn't even have it close. I'll go with the consensus and give Bradley 3 rounds but no more. Manny dictated the fight,landed the cleaner punches and visibly shook Bradley up a few times. Bradley was busy but landed nothing eye catching of note and his work to the body whilst okay was pretty inconsequential when compared to what Cotto did to Floyd the other week (in what was a closer fight than this imo). Funnily enough I was just watching Don King Unauthorised earlier today and one of the people saying what a shady,manipulative mother****er Don is, was Bob Arum. Even before today's result I thought Bob Arum questioning anybody's integrity was a bit rich after today I hope the new wave of promoters sends this ******* to irrelevency.
I saw an interview with Mayweather Senior that said he thought Pac won. I don't know what the hell is going on. I haven't seen it yet. But, Joy is not what you would call a Pac fan.
They did? That is crazy. Was Pac's best round if memory serves me right and Bradley seemed close to going down.