Jun 11, 2012

What Pacquiao's loss really means for boxing?

A few months ago, Manny Pacquiao lost to Tim Bradley in a controversial split decision.
Judge Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao, but C.J. Ross and Duane Ford both scored it 115-113 for Bradley, a junior welterweight titlist who moved up to challenge Pacquiao in his fourth title defense.

ESPN.com had it 119-109 for Pacquiao. HBO's unofficial judge, Harold Lederman, also had it 119-109 for Pacquiao, meaning he gave Bradley only one round. Most ringside media also scored it clearly for Pacquiao.
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).

Clearly, there's some controversy here - much of the commentary that I've read about the fight would seem to indicate that Manny won the fight. I'm sure Tim Bradley's fans may beg to defer. Either way, there's only one true winner here - Dana and the UFC.

Any keen observer of sporting events, will tell you that UFC is growing fast, it's been heralded as the 6th most popular sport in the U.S. One would expect that UFC will likely continue to grow in popularity, especially as boxing declines......

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