Pacquiao Investigation: Boxing Fans Deserve Explanation for Judges' Decision

Boxing fans are disgusted after the judges robbed Manny Pacquiao in his fight against Timothy Bradley.

A full investigation into this matter is needed, as the fans deserve to know exactly what went down behind the scenes to cause the judges to give a decision that defied all logic and reason.

One of the loudest cries from the blogosphere has been that promoter Bob Arum secretly arranged the entire thing in order to reap the benefits of a sure rematch. Arum is taking proactive steps to cast off those assertions by refusing to support a rematch and by calling for an independent investigation into the decision, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports:

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I want to investigate whether there was any undue influence, whether the [Nevada Athletic Commission] gave any particular instruction and how they came to this conclusion...If this was a subjective view that each of [the judges] honestly held, OK. I would still disagree, but then we're off the hook in terms of there being no conspiracy. But there needs to be an independent investigation because it strains credulity that an event everybody saw as so one-sided one way all three judges saw it as close.

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There is no doubting the fact that Pacquiao dominated the action. Bradley put up a good fight, especially considering that he broke a foot in the fifth round, but the numbers don't lie: Bradley lost the fight.

ESPN's Dan Rafael reported the ringside stats:

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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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If that isn't proof enough for you to believe something sinister was at work, consider that an Irish betting site, PaddyPower.com, gave Pacquiao bettors their money back, according to SI.com.

The decision against Pac-Man is a nasty stain on the sport of boxing. The judges couldn't possibly give that fight to Bradley in their right minds. Something else was at work.

Pacquiao and boxing fans deserve to know exactly what happened. The sport of boxing deserves no less.

Follow @JesseReed78