The best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport, Manny Pacquiao, faced no-name Timothy Bradley last night at the MGM Grand. And no surprise, Pacquaio, who hasn’t lost in seven years, handily took the fight by a 117-111 decision according to the Associated Press.
Wait, what? He lost?
Hold on, let me read the story again.
Holy crap! Pacquaio lost?!?!
Yes, the Pac-man lost last night to the 29-0 Bradley, who was fighting in far and away the biggest fight of his career. You’d be hard-pressed to find an impressive win on his resume, though he did beat Joel Casamayor the last time out who at least used to be talented in his younger days.
Needless to say, the conspiracy theories of a fix are already coming in. This is boxing after all. Why you’d want to fix Bradley to win the welterweight title, I have no idea.
But fight promoter Bob Arum said, “I went over to Bradley before the decision and he said, ‘I tried hard but I couldn’t beat the guy.'”
Well that’s not a good sign for the legitimacy, but what about the impartial journalists covering the fight? Let’s take a Twitter sampling, shall we:
Quick-take on Bradley over Pacquiao: Corruption, incompetence or blindness, this was boxing at the low ebb: bit.ly/KIdTyg
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) June 10, 2012
Here’s my story on Pacquiao getting ROBBED: espn.go.com/boxing/story/_… #PacBradley #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) June 10, 2012
Just spoke to Floyd Mayweather Sr. He thought Pacquiao won. Thought Bradley fought well but definitely lost.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 10, 2012
But what about someone who’s actually been in the ring? It’s not like a Boxing Hall of Famer is panning the decision.
The fight: Pacquiao was not accurate; Bradley won 2 rd. at the most. Pac was robbed.
— George Foreman (@GeorgeForeman) June 10, 2012
Nevermind.
Just talking about this Pacquiao fight with @KhloeKardashian! How is this even legal???!!! Seems so fixed! Pacquiao deserves that belt!
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) June 10, 2012
Kim Kardashian thinks it was fixed! That’s it, I’m convinced.
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