THE PACQUIAO-BRADLEY DISPUTE (PART II)
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 28 Mar 2014
During the first Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley encounter, Bradley entered the fight as a 7-2 underdog in the Vegas line betting. CompuBox statistics favored Pacquiao, who landed more punches than Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds. Pacquiao connected 253 of 751 punches (34 %), while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 %). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power shots, 190-108.
Pacquiao had a 22-8 advantage in total punches landed in round 5 but judges CJ Ross and Duane Ford scored that round in favor of Bradley. Pacquaio had a 27-11 edge in total punches landed in round 7 and all 3 judges gave that round to Bradley.
Out of Pacquiao?s 253 landed punches, 122 (48%) were hit in the final minute of each round. This should have created an impression on the judges that Pacquiao lost the entire round by starting slower. Of his 253 landed punches, only 42 (17%) were conneted in the first minute of each round.
The crowd jeered when the results were announced results were loudly jeered by a near-capacity crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was Pacquiao's first loss in his last 16 fights, dating to March 2005 when he was first defeated by Erik Morales.
Anyway a typical boxing fan would look at it, the eight-division Filipino world champion dominated the fight. Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya posted on Twitter: "Bradley should have given the belt and announce victory to Paquiao right after the decision."
But the Desert Storm placed pride above all things and insisted he won the controversial fight. "Manny hurt me a few times in the fight with his left," Bradley was quoted by Dan Rafel of ESPN. "He's a beast, but my corner told me if I won the last round, I would win the fight. I gotta give Manny a rematch."
The new WBO welterweight champion added: "Manny was aggressive, but he only landed four or five clean shots. He's a strong puncher, he rocked me a couple times. I withstood it and fought hard to the end."
Even before the fight, Bradley was so confident of winning that he already proposed a rematch. And right after the disputed decision he immediately offered a rematch to the defeated champion.
"This feels great, but I'm not satisfied," Bradley said. "I hear the boos. People think I lost. Let's do it again. This is boxing. Nov. 10, we can do the rematch."
Pacquiao said he wants the rematch, too. "No problem," PacMan said. "I'll be ready for the rematch." The rematch did not happen right away that year as Pacquiao fought and lost to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth match.
Instead it was scheduled almost two years later on April 12, 2014.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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