Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Rounding Up Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Decision

After Timothy Bradley defeated Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night, a number of conspiracy theories have been popping up around the web, and for good reason.

Bradley absolutely did not deserve the decision over Pac-Man and it makes almost no sense, outside of wild incompetence or corruption, that the judges would award him the victory.

Let’s take a look at some of the theories based on those reasonings that are floating around out there.

Bob Arum Fixed Match

Pacquiao’s promoter and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum is the most outraged person about the decision. Is it because he’s trying to make it appear that he has nothing invested in a rematch between Pac-Man and Bradley?

There’s definitely a chance, according to Grantland’s Jay Kaspian Kang.

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I don't know what possessed Bob Arum to say anything that even smattered of the truth, but his post-fight press conference, in which he divulged that Bradley had thought he lost the fight, stunk of a desperate man who had convinced himself that if he started shoveling enough [expletive] at the hole, maybe everyone would forget the fact that when Pacquiao and Bradley fight on November 10, Top Rank will be the only promotion company that receives a check.

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It seems that the forced rematch written into the contract before the fight may have had a huge part in the judges’ decision to award Bradley the decision. The fact that Bradley had spoken about it prior to the fight is just further proof that many knew there would likely be a second fight in November.

Now, Arum is going to be an extremely rich man and it doesn’t seem that he actually should care as much as he is pretending to about who won Saturday’s fight.

Incompetence

It’s honestly hard to imagine a human being watching the fight between Bradley and Pacquiao and finding a way to score it in favor of the American fighter.

The fact that two out of three judges in the fight were able to do exactly that seems to be beyond coincidence.

However, it’s not impossible.

Bill Barnwell noted that C.J. Ross has a long history of making terrible decisions and Jerry Roth consistently scores fights numerous points away from what other judges are recording.

That perfect storm may have led to Bradley being unfairly awarded the decision. It’s unlikely, but certainly possibly.