From fightnews.com:
For the record, I only gave Bradley rounds 10 and 12 and while I scored it pretty closely, I probably did not watch the last four rounds as closely as the first 8, at least for scoring purposes.
While it's a horrible decision, after the shock wears off I don't think it will be considered the 'worst' decision ever, but it will be a nominee whenever that conversation comes up.
Corruption? No.
I don't think this was a corrupt decision. Here's why: For it to be corrupt, Ford and Ross had to be in on it since they were the two judges who scored it for Bradley. The first round was pretty close. If you are fixing a fight, you just don't give away a round like that to the 'wrong' guy. Right off, that takes Ross off the hook since she scored it for Pacq.
Then in rounds 2 and especially 11, Ford was the lone judge scoring it for Pacquiao. I thought round 11 was sort of close.
Finally, you never want to
have to score the last round to the fixed fighter to get the winner you want. It's too risky. For Bradley to get the win, both Ross and Ford had to score the 12th for him.
HBO brainwashing going on?
Big time. Max made a feeble attempt early on (like after round 1) to say he thought Bradley did decently in round 1, but then he backed down when the swarm of Pacquiao praise set in. Since I was agreeing with the announcers' sentiment, I'm not going to be able to argue where I thought it was particularly telling, but it will be worth listening to someone (anyone) who scored it for Bradley to hear their side.
One possibility: Dividing a round into 3 parts
While I absolutely hate the theory of scoring where you divide a round into 3 parts and the winner is the guy who won 2 of them, this is a theory that some 'respected' judges have put forth. My google skills are letting me down, but I'm sure someone will know who I am thinking of.
Anyway, the point is that there were several rounds where neither fighter was doing jack for the first 2 minutes. If Bradley was nipping these portions of the round, a bad judging methodology could have rewarded him 'fairly.'
Round 7?
Did Bradley win this round? All 3 judges had him winning it.
Rounds Bradley may have won based upon Fightbeat judging:
1. mikE: Rounds 10 and 12 (118-110 pacq)
2. MWS: "he was just outclassed in every round apart from 10, 11, and possibly round 1." "but I felt generous giving him round 11," (118-110 pacq)
3. Trplsec: "I gave Bradley the 1st, 7th, 10th and 12th. I scored the 11th even last night" 116-113 (pacq)
4. Outlander: "But I gave Timmy 4 rounds. And I think you could make a case (perhaps a weak one) to give him 5 rounds." (116-112, but 116-113, 115-112 weak possibilities for pacq)
5. Slice n Dice "I had it 8-4, 9-3. Something along those lines" (116-112 pacq)
6. Azazel: "I thought he lost all the first eight and won maybe 3 of the last 4. Hell, I wouldn't have aruged to much with 10-2 Pac" [This means round 9 to Bradley] (117-110 pacq)
7. cdogg187: "I gave him the second and 3 of the last 4 " [This adds round 2 to the mix.] (116-112 pacq)
8. Punk: "I gave Braddles the first 2 and the last 3." (115-113 Pacquiao)
9. puerto rock: 116-112 pacq
So, after only 9 people, and specific rounds listed
by only 6, we have the possible rounds to Bradley being:
Round 1 (mws, trplsec, Punk)
Round 2 (Punk, cdogg187)
Round 7 (trplsec)
Round 9 (Azazel)
Round 10 (mikE, mws, trplsec, punk)
Round 11 (mws, trplsec even, punk)
Round 12 (mikE, trplsec, punk)
Those rounds = 115-113 Bradley. That's
only 6 people's scoring to get to 115-113 for Bradley.
The judges got there by giving in some part rounds 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 to Bradley. It's a given that being ringside and not having the tv angle can sometimes change perception.
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