Pacquiao vs Bradley: Why Result Further Kills Potential Mayweather-Pacquiao Bout

The judges killed more than the future of boxing when they shockingly declared Timothy Bradley the winner over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night.

They also killed whatever hope anyone might of had of a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather super-crazy-over-the-top-best-thing-ever fight. 

Thanks, C.J. Ross and Duane Ford.

Most importantly, where does Manny Pacquiao go from here?

If you were Pac-Man, and you were already considering retirement and had plenty of other options on your plate such as a successful political career, why would you ever want to box again?

Pac-Man could try to "prove" himself and get revenge from this "loss," but everyone already knows he deserved the win. Putting in another nine months of training just to prove something everyone already knows just isn't worth it for the pound-for-pound champ.

Not only was this loss incredibly unfair and just simply wrong, it has to be deflating for Pacquiao. I can't even imagine how Pacquiao can feel after this one. It wouldn't be at all surprising for him to simply say, "if this is the kind of stuff that's going to happen, there's no point in fighting anymore."

It's like going up to the plate in baseball knowing the pitcher is going to hit you. You don't want to do that. That's stupid.

Why get hit in the face for nothing?

Of course, Pacquiao could also go the other way, accept his rematch with Bradley and come out and give a huge "F-U" to the boxing world. He could come out and destroy Bradley. Knock him out. Leave no doubt to his 12 doubters that he is the better fighter.

If Pac-Man does that, however, it means he won't be available for a fight with Mayweather for at least another year, at the least. By that time, he will be close to 35 and Mayweather will be 37. At some point, if it doesn't happen immediately, the megafight will start losing its appeal.

And this wrongful decision is just another major speed bump that will prevent the dream matchup from happening immediately. It sends everyone in a different direction.

Even Mayweather, who has yet to see the fight because he's in the clink, will use this as another excuse to avoid Pac-Man. Why would the undefeated champ fight a "washed up" Pacquiao who is coming off a "loss"?

Forget about the money issue. Forget about the drug-test issue. Now that the judges have further crippled boxing, there just won't be enough incentive for either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao to get a deal done.

And that's unfortunate because it's probably the only thing that can save the sport. 

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