The Top Rank chief went to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office in Las Vegas Monday and submitted a formal request for a “full and complete inquiry” into how the judges scored the fight and declared Tim Bradley the winner.
It was reported that Bradley told Arum inside the ring, as everybody awaited the decision, that “he tried his best but just couldn’t beat Pacquiao.”
If true, then it was an admission from Bradley that he lost the fight.
Two of the judges gave the fight to Bradley, 115-113, while one went for Pacquiao, 115-113.
To many, they were all wrong.
“The public has a right to know. The fighters have a right to know,” said Arum in a statement emailed to the press by publicity man Fred Sternburg.
“The only way to restore fans’ confidence in boxing is by letting an independent body investigate every detail of the fight, no matter how big or small. Sunshine never hurt anyone,” Arum said.
Duane Ford, one of the judges who had Bradley winning the fight, insisted he scored it the way he saw it.
“I thought Bradley gave Pacquiao a boxing lesson,” he told Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review Journal the day after the fight watched by millions around the world.
There was a very strong reaction to the decision that people have started looking back at perhaps the most controversial boxing decision of all time – Roy Jones’ earthshaking loss to Park Si-hun in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
But Ford said he judged the fight the way a boxing match should be judged.
“This isn’t ‘American Idol.’ If I judge for the people, I shouldn’t be a judge. I went in with a clear mind and judged each round,” said the 74-year-old judge from Sin City.
Ford said his score may not reflect the figures on the punch stats but it doesn’t mean he didn’t score it right.
“I don’t look at the punch stats but I saw Manny miss a lot of punches and Bradley hit Manny and won a lot of the exchanges,” he added.
Pacquiao said he has no plans of pursuing any form of protest, and said he’d rather move on, and look forward to his next fight, most likely a rematch with Bradley in November.
“Kalimutan na lang natin at tanggapin ang desisyon (Let’s forget about it and accept the decision),” he said from his La Palazzo apartment Monday evening.
“Let’s all be humble,” he said, despite the fact that he lost a fight he had clearly won.
“I’m not even affected by it. I just try to draw strength from God,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer said he will call the three judges, including CJ Ross and Jerry Roth, who went for Pacquiao, individually.
“I’ve talked with all three judges after the bout, as well as today. We’re going to review the tape of the bout because there was so much controversy, and because there was so much disagreement with the decision,” Kizer told www.ringTV.com.
“Even with bouts with less controversy, judges like to review the tape anyway. I want them to review it with me for my own edification. So I’m going to have them come in individually and we will watch it.
“I expect these judges will show that they used correct scoring criteria and can verbalize their decision-making, as they have been able to do in the past,” Kizer told Lem Satterfield.
This thing’s far from over as far as Arum is concerned.
