Arum wants Pacquiao-Bradley bout investigated
MANILA, Philippines – Top Rank Chief Executive Bob Arum will ask the Attorney-General in Nevada to investigate the shocking result of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title clash between Filipino ring icon Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao and undefeated American Timothy Bradley Jr.
In a stunning upset, Bradley was declared the winner via split decision even though he was outlanded and outpunched by Pacquiao throughout the 12-round encounter.
"We're gonna ask the Attorney General to investigate the entire situation. What happened last night in Las Vegas was an absolute outrage, and we have to have a complete investigation to determine how something like this could happen and who is responsible," Arum said in an interview on ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda."
Jerry Roth was the only judge who scored the bout for Pacquiao, 115-113. CJ Ross and Duane Ford both scored the fight for Bradley, 115-113.
Arum lambasted the judges in the post-fight press conference, calling them three blind mice and saying the decision was a "death knell" for boxing.
"You have these old (expletive) who don't know what the hell they're looking at. It's incompetence. Nobody who knows anything about boxing could have Bradley ahead in the fight," Arum said.
No reversal
But even as he wants the bout investigated, Arum admitted it was highly unlikely that the decision will be overturned.
"Theoretically, it is possible to appeal to the (Nevada State Athletic) Commission to reverse the decision, but they had let it be known in many other occassions that they will not reverse the decision," Arum said.
Arum said it was possible for a decision to be reversed if one of the boxers was found to test positive for performance enhancing drugs, but it is rare for a result to be reversed on the basis of the judges' scoring.
Moreover, Arum said it was unfair to ask Bradley to return the WBO title belt to Pacquiao, which many boxing fans on Twitter wanted him to do.
"Bradley is a very nice young man, he really is. It's very hard to ask him, having gotten the belt, to ask him to surrender it," Arum said.
"I don't think even Manny would want us to do that."
No fix
Arum also denied that the bout was "fixed," as many conspiracy theorists have claimed following the match.
Some believed that the result of the bout was rigged especially as Bradley had already printed promotional materials for a November 10 rematch.
"That is a presumption that a lot of people have," Arum said of the allegation that the bout was "rigged."
"It's because the decision was so ridiculous and that's unfortunate, and that's something that we have to deal with and we can only deal with an investigation," he added.
Arum said the rematch clause would only be valid if Bradley won the fight. As such, he said the judges most likely had no idea that a rematch clause was included in the contract.
"I don't know why the scoring was the way it was, but it was certainly not based on any consideration of a rematch," Arum said.
The Top Rank boss then told Pacquiao's fans to "celeberate Manny Pacquiao and his great victory over Timothy Bradley."
"Everybody saw that it was a one-sided fight. Manny looked like he did a couple of years ago. Whatever the decision was, you know and I know and the people of the Philippines and all over the world know Manny Pacquiao won the fight," Arum said.
Arum wants Pacquiao-Bradley bout investigated | ABS-CBN News
