Tim Bradley-Manny Pacquiao
SCORE “EACH” ROUND BEFORE BECOMING OUTRAGED!
Los Angeles, CA-The majority of boxing’s so-called experts scored Saturday’s fight for Manny Pacquiao over Tim Bradley. Most fans in the blogosphere also seem to think the Filipino was robbed of his WBO welterweight (147 lbs) title by the questionable scores of the two of three judges. All three had it close, Duane Ford and C.J. Ross both scored it 115-113 for Bradley, while Jerry Roth had it the other way, 115-113 for Pacquiao. Watching the bout live while drinking beers with my friends, but not scoring each round individually, I estimated that the Filipino probably won ten rounds to two.
DISTRACTIONS & TV SHILLS DON’T HELP!
Obvious influences were my friends watching the bout with me, HBO play by play announcer Jim Lampley’s obvious cheerleading for Pacquiao, HBO replays that clearly only show highlights of Manny’s punches between rounds, and the fact that my attention span was diminished because of the social setting. I wonder how many fans who watched the bout at home are up in arms over the result even though they didn’t take the time to score each round “during” the fight? Each round, or mini-fight because that’s what they are, should be scored individually, 10 for the victor, 9 for the loser, and in case of a knockdown 10-8 for the victor, or 10-10 if the fistic frame was even. That is how boxing should be scored, and I believe that is the main reason the judges ended up with their results, not because of any of the various conspiracy theories conjured up on message boards and blogs.
WATCHED THE BOUT AGAIN AND WAS SURPRISED AT RESULTS!
Normally I do not like to re-watch a bout and come up with a score because it is somewhat disingenuous to do so after you already know the result. In this case, I was really curious as to the validity of people’s claims as to whether this was really a heist. On Monday, I watched the fight again, a British version of the broadcast. I made sure to pay close attention to what I was seeing, and took all of the scoring criteria in consideration; 1) clean punching, 2) effective aggressiveness, 3) ring generalship, and 4) defense. I made sure to not tally up the scores until after the bout was over and tried to be as fair as possible considering the circumstances. That being said, I scored the bout 115-115, a draw.
COMPUBOX AN UNEDUCATED DEFENSE OF PACMAN VICTORY CLAIMS
Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley
A common claim is that because of Pacquiao’s dominance in the Compubox statistics that the Filipino out landed the American by 96 punches that it’s a clear indicator that he won the fight easily. After watching the bout again and studying each round I wholeheartedly disagree. The majority of Manny’s landed punches occurred in rounds 3,4, 5 and 6 all rounds that the Filipino Congressman won clearly. While it’s possible that I gave a couple close rounds to Bradley, it’s also clear that many people watching at home or covering the bout ringside who thought the bout was one-sided gave every close round to Manny Pacquiao.
BRADLEY DID WELL IN THE LATE ROUNDS, MANNY TRIED TO STEAL THEM
For some reason, whether it was fatigue or arrogance, the Filipino decided to only fight the final minute of every round in the second half of the fight. In the first two minutes Bradley would come forward and dictate the pace with his jab, and land shots to the body on occasion. While his punches weren’t doing a whole lot of damage it was hard to give Manny rounds where he lacked activity. I scored rounds 3,4,5,6 and 12 for Pacquiao, rounds 1, 7,8, 10 and 11 for Bradley with rounds 2 and 9 even.
Look, before people start jumping up and down bellowing “robbery”, they should go and score a bout alone without any distractions. While I won’t disagree with writers ringside and what most of them perceive as being a Pacquiao victory, this is essentially the same group that overwhelmingly had Juan Manuel Marquez beating Pacquiao in November. What I’m trying to say is I can at least comprehend how the judges came up with their scores and don’t view this as the horrendous decision that so many people are making it out to be.
Kevin Perry