Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley: Instant Replay Won't Solve Boxing's Problems

After what looked like a fixed fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, the sport of boxing needs to be repaired. But instant replay isn't the answer.

CBS Sports' Ray Ratto wondered why there hasn't been an outcry for replay after the judges gave Bradley the decision. After all, most other sports these days use replay to rule out human error.

Ratto ultimately concluded that people haven't called for it in boxing because "you assume boxing is corrupt on the basis of it always having been corrupt and you don't want to waste the technology. Or your energy, apparently."

Ratto isn't wrong. There is something endemically wrong with the sport of boxing. You know it's bad when the boxer who loses out in an obviously unjust decision says, “In your heart you know I was winning the fight. But it’s okay. It’s part of the game.” (h/t Washington Post)

Something sinister is at work underneath all the glitz and glamour of the highly-produced and highly-lucrative mega-matches in boxing.

If boxers accept that these kinds of controversial decisions are just part of the game, then why should we invest so much of ourselves into the sport? As far as I'm concerned, if these kinds of controversies are just part of the game, then I can't help but treat it like I would a WWE match, creative team and all.

Even if the powers that be were to introduce instant replay into the mix, nothing would change unless the corrupt nature of the sport and those who have corrupted it were no longer the ones in charge. The notion that instant replay will fix the sport is kind of like believing that a new batch of politicians will fix our struggling economy.

Boxing needs help, but instant replay won't do a damn thing towards that end.

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