Paquiao vs. Bradley: Pac-Man's Legacy Won't Be Tainted by Judges' Ineptitude

Manny Pacquiao's status as a legend won't take a hit after he "lost" in a split decision that the inept judges scored in favor of Timothy Bradley.

Two judges gave the match to Bradley, 115-113, while one judge scored it 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao. Anyone who watched the fight will tell you that all three scores—even the one in favor of Pac-Man—are far from the truth of what actually happened in the ring.

Desert Storm put up a valiant fight against Pac-Man, but it was clear to everyone who knows anything about boxing that Pacquiao dominated the fight. Consider this, via ESPN.com's Dan Rafael:

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ESPN.com had it 119-109 for Pacquiao. HBO's unofficial judge, Harold Lederman, also had it 119-109 for Pacquiao, meaning he gave Bradley only one round. Most ringside media also scored it clearly for Pacquiao.

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Even Bradley wasn't convinced the judges got it right. After the fight, he said this about the verdict, according to Rafael's report: "It was a good fight. Every round was pretty close. Pacquiao won the early rounds, I won the later rounds with my jab. I have to go home and see the tape to see who won."

One only needs to take a quick glance at the stat sheet to see the truth. Rafael writes: 

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The CompuBox statistics favored Pacquiao, who landed more punches than Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds. Pacquiao landed 253 of 751 punches (34 percent), while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 percent). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power shots (190-108).

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This mountain of evidence proves that Pacquiao's status as one of boxing's greats won't be tainted by the ineptitude of the judges. Everyone knows that he should have won the fight, and forevermore, there will be a massive asterisk attached to this loss on his record.

There will surely be a rematch. Pacquiao has already stated he wants to fight Bradley again to prove once and for all he is the superior boxer, and I have no doubt he'll get his wish.

Pac-Man isn't the one who lost something of significance; rather, it was boxing as a whole that lost out on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

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