The on-going saga surrounding the controversial fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley has taken yet another turn after the World Boxing Organization (WBO) announced that they would review video of the fight in hopes of clearing up the whole issue and putting it to bed.
In a statement released Wednesday, WBO President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel said that the WBO’s championship committee will do the review with five “recognized international judges” before making an official recommendation.
Can’t say that we’re surprised with this latest development, especially after the uproar over the fight even reached the attention of no less than Nevada senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who himself asked for an investigation into the scoring of the fight.
Talking to the Associated Press, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the investigation would provide information on how the fight was scored. ”The public saw the fight and they’re outraged, and we need clarity here,” he said.
”We need those responsible to investigate, to see what happened, how the judges could be so off.”
The fallout from the fight has seen unprecedented worldwide uproar with some people even going so far as to say that Bradley’s split-decision win over Pacquiao was the biggest robbery in boxing history. Pernell Whitaker, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Oscar Dela Hoya now some company. Oh, joy.
Ringside judge Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 for Pacquiao, which is questionable enough on its own merit considering that a lot of people had PacMan dominating the fight. But the controversy took to a whole new level after both Duane Ford and C.J. Ross scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bradley.
”[The decision] puts boxing in a very horrible light,” Arum said. ”I’m looking for the sport to do damage control, and the only way it does damage control is if you do a full and complete investigation.”
Now that the WBO has gotten involved, it looks like were closer to finding out exactly what happened in that fight. For all parties involved, the hope is that this investigation will be the final chapter in what has been one of the most controversial fights we’ve ever seen.
