Pacquiao Investigation: Bob Arum Takes Pacquiao vs Bradley Match to Nevada State Attorney General
A formal request to launch a full inquiry into the boxing result match on Saturday night between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley has been submitted to the Nevada State Attorney General's office. The controversial match, which boxing fans worldwide are calling a heist, saw Bradley take home the WBO Welterweight title, even though critics and fans clearly thought that Manny won.
But after the fight went to the judges' scorecards it was revealed that Bradley had been declared the winner, with two of the three judges scoring the bout 115 to 113 in Bradley's favor.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission who oversaw the fight did not seek an internal inquiry into the result - which lead to boxing promotion company CEO Bob Arum taking the case to a higher authority - the Nevada State Attorney General - to launch a complete investigation into the fight.
Arum told Yahoo Sports: "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. But 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."
Boxing fans around the world are angry that the Nevada State Athletic Commission is standing by Saturday night's verdict. The three judges have been dubbed "three blind mice" by boxing fans.
Pacquiao landed 100 times more punches on Bradley over the course of the fight. Bradley threw more punches than Pacquio but missed a huge portion of them - showing his aggression in the fight but lack of accuracy and composure.
Many believe that the fight was fixed - because a potential rematch for Pacquiao to reclaim his championship would make millions for the boxing promoters. Arum had said after the match: "I'm going to make a lot of money on the rematch, but this [decision] was outrageous."
Pacquiao thought he had defended his Welterweight title after the match. But he said afterwards: "I did my best [but] I guess my best wasn't good enough. He never hurt me with his punches, most of them landed on my arms."
It is the first loss Pacquiao has suffered in seven years. But a super-money rematch looks likely to be immediately scheduled for later this year, in a fight that will now be sure to attract every boxing fan's attention.
The result is reminiscent to last year's Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson bout. British Khan lost his WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles in that fight following a hugely controversial decision for the American fighter in Washington.
Khan also commented after the fight, "I was shocked more than anything. Manny won the fight clearly - I gave him it by at least eight points.
"I only gave Bradley a couple of rounds and they were very close."
