Pacquiao vs Bradley: How Unrealistic Expectations Swayed Judges

Headed into his fight with Timothy Bradley on Saturday, Manny Pacquiao was considered one of the greatest boxers, if not the greatest boxer, this generation had ever seen. He held a 54-3-2 record in 59 career bouts with 38 knockouts.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons two judges gave the bout to Bradley on Saturday. The expectations for the fight were too unrealistic.

Pacquiao outclassed Bradley headed into Saturday's fight at the MGM Grand, but he was also 33 years old, and he'd been in countless battles with some greats of the sport. He also hadn't scored a knockout since he won via TKO against Miguel Cotto in November 2009.

Duane Ford, one of the judges who gave Bradley a 115-113 decision on Saturday, defended himself after the bout.

Ford said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

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"I thought Bradley gave Pacquiao a boxing lesson. I thought a lot of the rounds were close. Pacquiao missed a lot of punches and I thought he was throwing wildly."

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Ford is right that Pacquiao missed a lot of punches. Given he threw 751 of them in the bout, he was bound to miss a lot of punches.

But Pacquiao also landed 253 punches to Bradley's 159, according to CompuBox (via BoxingScene.com). He still landed 34 percent of his punches, compared to Bradley's 19 percent.

That's where the unrealistic expectations of Pacquiao come in. Despite Pacquiao landing a greater percentage of his punches, Ford still had the perception that he "was throwing wildly." 

Even Jerry Roth, who scored the bout 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao, wasn't full of praise of the legendary Filipino.

Roth said, via the Review-Journal:

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"I'm looking for effective aggressiveness. I thought Pacquiao won a lot of the early rounds, and I thought Bradley came on in the end. That's why I gave Bradley the last three rounds. But I still thought Pacquiao had done enough to win."

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So not only are the judges expecting Pacquiao to land an unrealistic percentage of punches, they are expecting him to be aggressive throughout the entire fight, which isn't practical, even for a younger fighter.

We can't expect Pacquiao to score knockouts these days. He's suffered the wear and tear of countless battles, and he's nearing the end of his career.

But that doesn't mean he didn't deserve the decision on Saturday. Heck, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has made a living out of fighting for the decision, and he's 43-0.

Even if the fight wasn't rigged, the judges still don't have the ground to give that fight to Bradley. I don't know what's worse, doctoring the decision or being completely blind.

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