Timothy Bradley Jr. earns stunning, controversial split-decision win over Manny Pacquiao
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LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao put on an outstanding show, but it was the judges who will be the big story for the next week or so.
Timothy Bradley celebrates his controversial win over Manny Pacquiao. (Getty Images) Pacquiao landed 94 more punches than Bradley according to CompuBox, but it was not enough as the judges stunningly awarded a split-decision win to Bradley, who lifted the World Boxing Organization welterweight title from Pacquiao with the victory.
"I thought I won the fight," said Bradley, who said he hurt his ankle in the second round. "I didn't think he was as good as everybody says he is. I didn't feel a lot of his power."
It was an excellent back-and-forth bout, but Pacquiao seemed to control it by landing more, landing at a higher percentage and landing the harder punches.
Judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford had it for Bradley, 115-113. Jerry Roth had it for Pacquiao, 115-113. Bradley won the final round on all three cards which pulled out the bout for him.
Pacquiao was shocked by the verdict.
"I do my best and I guess my best wasn't good enough," Pacquiao said. "I've been watching the tapes of his fights. Tonight, he never hurt me. Most of his punches hit my arms. I don't know what happened [with the scoring]. I have no problem. I'll be ready for the rematch. No doubt [I won the fight.]"
It was a stunning end to a more than seven-year winning streak for Pacquiao, who entered the bout ranked No. 2 in the Yahoo! Sports world rankings.
"Can you believe that?" promoter Bob Arum said. "I had it 10-2! After I got into the ring after the fight, I went over to Bradley and said 'You did very well.' He said, 'I tried hard, but I couldn't beat the guy.' This is crazy. You talk about killing boxing? All three scorecards you throw out."
Dreams of a megafight against No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have gone up in smoke with the pens of judges who saw a different fight than the fans in the building and most media at ringside.
Yahoo! Sports scored it 117-111 for Pacquiao, the same margin as Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press and Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Dan Rafael of ESPN had it 118-110 for Pacquiao. HBO's Harold Lederman had it 119-109, or 11 rounds to one, for Pacquiao.
[Related: More photos from Timothy Bradley's victory over Manny Pacquiao]
"This is a death knell for boxing, and I'm going to make a ton of money on the rematch," Arum said.
Pacquiao landed 253 of 751 punches, a connect rate of 34 percent. Bradley landed 159 of 839, a connect rate of just 19 percent. On top of that, Pacquiao seemed to land the more powerful shots.
It was an action-paced battle fought at a furious pace for much of the event. Pacquiao showed little respect for Bradley's power and waded in with impunity, ripping straight left hands and hooks.
"He's a beast," Bradley said, while admitting Pacquiao hurt him several times with the left.
Bradley landed clean shots, but wasn't able to back Pacquiao up.
Pacquiao said he respected the decision, but felt he won the fight.
From the look on Bradley's face at the end of the bout, it appeared he felt the same way.
I didn't see the fight but do you guys think they gave it to Bradley bedcause Pac was supposed to beat the hell out of him? Bradley was almost 4 to 1 odds all day yesterday, Pacman was well over 1 to 4.
The one boxing analyst guy (think teddy atlas?) pretty much came out and said he believed Bob Arum put a fix in because Pacquiao may not be renewing his contract with him. Heard it on espn just after the fight. He said it was either a fix for a reason like that, or total ineptness by the judges.
Who knows though? Could be the judges were just pissed he made them wait because of the basketball game lol.
I watched the fight and I think I pacman got robbed. However 2 out of the 3 judges were the best of the best judges in the industry. So its pretty hard to go against the best of the best judges and claim they were wrong. I am going to say they know more then the average boxing fan.
I think it came down to Bradley was winning the first 2 minutes of most rounds because pac wasn’t doing much and then try steal the last minute of the round. That backfired on him, he should have fought harder and knocked him out.
Pacquiao vs. Bradley Aftermath: Promoter – “It Could Be the End (Of Boxing). I Really Mean It.”
June 10th, 2012
By Charles Jay
This past weekend, a couple of very worthy sports that are perceived by most of the public to have been dying a slow death over the past 30 or so years had a chance to receive a proverbial shot in the arm.
Horse racing, which has been surviving by the good graces of slot machines for the most part in the last decade, was deprived by circumstances beyond its control, as I’ll Have Another, who was looking to become the first horse in 34 years to win the Triple Crown, had to scratch out of the race with tendonitis.
Photo: Chris Farina/ Top Rank
Boxing once again deprived itself. Period.
No more than fifteen minutes after the horrific, God-awful decision in the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight, i was on the phone with a rather prominent promoter, who wasn’t used to apocalyptic talk, but in this conversation spoke as if he wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do next in life.
“This could kill boxing, once and for all,” he said. “It could be the end. I really mean it. There are some things you can explain to people. You know, why a fight got stopped by the referee, or on a cut, something like that. But there’s no way the public would ever understand something like this. That’s because there’s no possible explanation for it.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people around this industry were feeling the same way, though they might be scared to death to acknowledge it.
They BETTER acknowledge it, at least among themselves, or they’re all going to be selling timeshares before long.
From a regulatory standpoint, athletic commissions, which are government entities, run the show, and that is perfectly understandable, since it is the police power they possess that theoretically keeps order.
But as much as armchair quarterbacks, couch potatoes and politicians like to take shots at them, there is no sport without the promoters. That applies across the spectrum, from good promoters, who know how to sell tickets and realize what it is like to take a risk, to mediocre promoters, who look to have everything pre-paid and fit more of the description of “packagers,” to bad promoters, who sometimes come up short when it is time to pay, to non-promoters; that is, guys who hold promotional paper but never seem to put on a show, preferring to function more like glorified agents.
Promoters are like people who run the “franchises” in this sport, or perhaps more accurately, the “teams” as might be found in NASCAR or Formula One auto racing. That is to say, some are much bigger and more prominent than others, but they are times when they are fighting over the same turf. The principles are the same, regardless of the business model, in that they have to be able to figure out a way for the numbers to balance on the positive side of the ledger for them at the end of a show, or over the long run.
Interest from the public is invariably going to be an essential part of the process. And interest is going to dwindle after decisions like the one that was handed down on Saturday night. It may have been the worst decision, in fact, since the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers drafted a guy named Sam Bowie ahead of someone named Michael Jordan back in 1984.
On a couple of occasions, promoters and those associated with them have gotten together for a summit meeting that was closed to the press. I jokingly labeled it “Little Apalachin,” an obvious reference to the 1957 gathering of organized crime figures in upstate New York that was busted up and led to some enlightenment on the part of federal authorities as to just how “organized” it was.
Well, let’s see how “organized” the promotional community can be. Previously they had talked about the threat of mixed martial arts and its impact on the boxing audience, both now and possibly into the future. Now they have that and a lot more to talk about. It’s difficult in a way because when it comes to bad decisions they are considered by many to be a big part of the problem. But if they feel a stake in the matter at all; if they are concerned about the way the “black eyes” that continue to be gathered in boxing have an effect on the overall product they are trying to sell, somebody had better get them together and speak very seriously to them.
Or was it serious enough that while they can’t seem to get a fight on network broadcast television, the UFC is signing an eye-popping, record-breaking deal with Fox?
Someone needs to pound into their heads that because they have a real interest in this, they need to forget about their own solipsistic concerns for just a second and start to map out some plans that will benefit the sport, even if it is the selfless insistence to athletic commissions that the officials are very much a part of the overall product, and that the very best need to be on display when the biggest audience is watching, because it drives public opinion all the way down the line. And that it has to be carried out, no matter what it costs and even if it requires an independent panel to make those selections.
They also need to let the public see what they are doing.
This is no time for feelings to get hurt, or for politics to get in the way. I could go on and on, and I just might, as time progresses.
Meanwhile, my promoter friend, who has hardly ever mentioned a word about MMA, was wondering out loud about the possibilities, well into the night.
If things don’t change, dramatically and soon, fans will move in the same direction he is – right out the door.
Quote: It may have been the worst decision, in fact, since the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers drafted a guy named Sam Bowie ahead of someone named Michael Jordan back in 1984.
They must not remember the Ray Jones Jr screwjob from the 1988 Olympics then. Same sport, and it was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. I think they did find out later that the judges were bribed by some Koreans. RJJ absolutely pummelled his opponent. Most scorers had him landing something like 300 punches to 100 from his opponent, and he still lost the decision. Even the guy who won was embarrassed about it.
Quote: Boxing is garbage for the most part anymore. The main reason I like MMA is that the best fights get made quickly .
I'm not an MMA fan but it's obvious that UFC is annihilating the entire sport of boxing. It's marketed a lot better, they keep it very fresh by having big fights scheduled more. There seems to be parity, so people watch a match not quite knowing what could happen.
I grew up watching all the big boxing matches, because my mom worked for the cable company and we always got them for free, or on a severe discount. My dad would have parties with all his buddies over, and he'd always let me stay up with them.
I haven't watched a match in years and to be honest I haven't been excited for one since Tyson/Lewis in '02.
Then you factor in what happened the other night and it's painfully obvious UFC will continue to dominate and probably grab guys that would have been destined for boxing 20 years ago.
But as the UFC gets more and more popular and fighters become house hold names they may/will have the same issue with boxing when you get some guys tied to promoters.
Right now boxing's biggest issue with hardcore fans is the fact the top fighters don't fight each other in their prime. Well that's because there isn't anything making them fight. They all are tied to promoters and they set up fights. There is many different orgs, WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF ect.... but the orgs don't control the fighters or who they fight.
Sure in MMA there is UFC, Strikeforce, Dream & Bellator but most of the other org champs outside the UFC don't mean jack (with the exception to Gilbert Melendez who will be in the UFC soon enough). Also the Orgs set the fights and you will see the #1 challenger fight the champ and they also try and set up the #2 & #3 fighters to create the next #1 challenger. It keeps it fresh and exciting.
For example Jon Jones won the belt in March 2011 from Shogun Rua, he defended the belt against Rampage Jackson in September 2011 and then defended it again Lyoto Machida in December 2011. In April 2012 he defended it again against Rashad Evans. So in 13 months after wining the belt he defended his belt 3 times against 3 former LHW champs. You will never see that in Boxing with the way the fighters and orgs are set up.
If someone was smart (and have the $$) they would start or take over one the existing orgs and start with the UFC model. Get a few top fighters signed and work from there. Won't happen because the fighters have too much power independently but if they could pull it off boxing could be exciting again. But I see MMA eventually gravitate to the Boxing model once it becomes more popular and more fighters are household names than I see Boxing move to the UFC model.
The only way boxing gains relevance again is if a heavyweight comes around who indisputably unifies the belts, which hasn't happened since Tyson, and won't happen between promotion politics and the fact that they just make up belts these days to put people in the seats.
You're correct, though, MMA is gaining relevance because of the way they book fights. That's how it was for boxing, once upon a time. Sigh.
You mean the Klitschko brothers as the HW champions isn't exciting for you??? I wonder what Martin Lawrence thinks? In one of his stand up comedy routines back in the 90's he stated there will never be another White HW Champion.
I was never a huge boxing fan but I did watch some many years ago. I think 2 things hurt boxing for me....
One was when it went exclusively to pay-per-view. I'm a casual boxing fan, I might watch it from time to time but I'm not spending $40-50 to watch it. If they still had the fights on once a week for free where you could watch and get to know some of the boxers and like/dislike some of them then I might have an opinion and be willing to drop some cash when the big fights come on... But the way it works now, I don't know any of the names involved therefore I have little to no interest.
And two, there was a period back in the 80s when boxing purses really started to balloon and it just seemed like if you won you got $8 million and if you lost you got $6 million... IIRC there were some fights where the bigger name was guaranteed to make more money whether he won or lost... and there was a period where there seemed to be a total lack of effort in a lot of fights because there wasn't enough incentive to really lay it out there and try to win...
But as the UFC gets more and more popular and fighters become house hold names they may/will have the same issue with boxing when you get some guys tied to promoters.
I disagree because the Fertitta Bros. and Dana White have ALL of the power in the UFC . So far they have avoided the problem boxing has with promoters which IMO is what killed boxing . When a promoter of fights like Don King or Bob Arum have more name recognition than the fighters in the ring you have a problem. It seems that when the UFC has a potential problem with competition they just buy the organization and fold those members into their family .
I see another huge issue with the UFC, not only do they hold ALL the power, they pay their fighters peanuts. They are robbing the fighters and the fighters can’t do anything about. Yes, Bob and Don are the evil promoters but at least they get their fighters a pay that they deserve. Yes, I understand the promoters get a huge cut but the UFC is getting so much profit is sad. The fighters are risking everything and they put their body on the line.
Payout breakdown pac/Bradley vs Santos/ Mir
Pac was guaranteed 26 million (not including ppv) Bradley was guaranteed 5 million (not including ppv) The total disclosed payroll for UFC 146: "Dos Santos vs. Mir" was $1,233,000. (not including ppv)
I would like to note that there were 22 fighters on that card.
The UFC holds all the power because they are the name. Most people don't call it MMA they call it Ultimate Fighting. MMA fighters can't command $25 million purses because they don't have the name recognition that a Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao have. But as the sport gets bigger and bigger and you have more guys like GSP and Jon Jones then I think there will be a time when some of these guys might fight through their contract and then not renew it so they can be a free lance fighter.
You had some of that when Affliction came on board, only problem was they paid a lot of money for guys like Tim Sylvia and Andrea Arlovski and Fedor KO'd them both in the 1st round. Sylvia would have made around $250,000 in the UFC, he got paid over a million $ to fight for Affliction.
Also you almost had Fedor vs Randy Couture outside the UFC, the only reason it didn't happen was because Randy had one fight left on his contract and he also had signed a "Champion" clause. Since he was still listed as the UFC champion they blocked him from fighting Fedor. (and that is also why Brock got his title shot over Fabricio Werdum because Randy got to fight a "big named" fighter and got a cut of the PPV that did over a million buys)
Right now the fighters need the UFC name; will they in 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now?? Eventually they won't.
As for how much the UFC pays the fighters vs Boxing, in boxing the main event fighters get paid big $$ but the undercard fighters still make peanuts. I remember reading and article a few years ago about a fighter that got paid $1000 to win an undercard fight. It cost him $2000 to get to the fight.
That is why I do like the UFC model, some of the undercard fighters make 8-10,000 but it's great to see them win a KO, Sub or Fight of the night bonus for another $60K. I can't remember the fighter but he won two bonus' (120k) in one event and was pretty much flat broke. He walked into his bank with the bonus check looking all beat up and the bank was leery of the check and the way he looked. He said something of the effect of "No problem, I'm going to sit over here while you guys check it out." He then said he would have waited all day there if he had to because until they cashed the check he had no money to his name.
Quote: I don't have a problem with them, but there needs to be a great american that can challenge them, white, black, whatever.
They're very good, but it's boring to watch them win convincingly every single time.
I was only kidding, however I think it will be very rare to see that Super Talented HW again, in MMA or Boxing.
Think about it, in the US the kids that are going to eventually grow into a 6'4" 230lb frame and are gifted athletically; Are they boxing or doing Martial arts? No they are playing Football, Basketball and before combat sports I'd still say baseball.
Outside the US, it's Futbol, Basketball, Rugby or Hockey over Boxing or MMA.
I just think it's going to be rare to see talented athletic guys in the HW division migrate to Boxing or MMA. Heck the UFC should be thanking their lucky stars that Jon Jones isn't playing football along side his two brothers in the NFL.
560,000 ppv (we are assuming $39.95) which is $22,237,200 Live gate $3,400,000 Grand total $25,772,000 Now divide the grand total ($25,772,000) to how much they paid their fighters ($1,233,000).
Then you see that the UFC paid their fighters 5% of what the made and the other 95% was for administrative costs, marketing, ect. Great business model if you are the Zuffa’s! They can afford to pay their people more if they want.
UFC is the name but with ought the fighters there wouldn’t be a sport. The fighters are being exploited you also said you like the model because some of the guys might make” fight of the night” but what if they don’t which is statistically is the norm that they don’t get a bonus. I think the sport should unionize lol
The boxers who are getting paid peanuts are usually not in a pay per view televised fight, similar to all of the very small MMA organizations who are “pro” but yet only make their money off of the percentage of tickets they sell to their family and friends
I think it’s crazy the 3rd main event is getting half of what both JDS and Cain received.
More info on the televised fight Mike Jones ($105,000) vs. Randall Bailey ($100,000) Jorge Arce ($300,000) vs. Jesus Rojas ($25,000) Guillermo Rigondeaux ($103,000) vs. Teon Kennedy ($70,000)
UFC going to FOX is going to change the whole ballgame for the fighters. it is going to give more of them to household name recognition, which will in turn give them more "power" to hold in negotiations.
the question that will remain is if they will use their newfound power to demand better wages for all, for themselves only, or to unionize the sport (which would likely setup more of a middle ground between those 2).
Pacquaio got 26 million plus a portion of the gate receipts for the Bradley fight. I don't think boxing is quaking in it's boots just yet at the thought of MMA.
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