A shocking Sunday morning for Pacquiao fans
Early yesterday morning, I watched an exciting Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat for the NBA Eastern Conference championship. When the final buzzer sounded, the Heat had demolished the Celtics, 101-88.
The match really pumped me up for another exciting sports event scheduled later in the morning, the Pacquiao-Bradley boxing match.
I knew I would be able to catch the fight because Pacman himself had told the organizers he wanted to watch the Boston-Miami game because he was a Celtics fan and he would not enter the ring until the game was over.
Unfortunately, his favorite team lost. Was this a portent of what was to come several hours later?
Began on a few high notes
The Pacquiao-Bradley fight started out on a high note, actually, really high notes from "American Idol" runner-up Jessica Sanchez who scored a knockout with her rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."
Since this was a delayed telecast, I suspected that the fight had ended early because they were showing commercials after the national anthems of the U.S. and the Philippines and the entrance of the two fighters. I was wrong.
For the first few rounds, it looked like I was in for a slam-bang affair and I could see Pacquiao knocking out the unbeaten Bradley by the sixth round. So I didn't mind the endless commercials that aired between rounds and the fact that I was really watching a delayed broadcast of the fight. In the other room, my sister was listening to the fight on radio in real time and I had told her not to tell me the results.
Boring and unspectacular
Alas, the fight did not turn out as I expected. After the sixth round, my interest began to wane. Pacquiao seemed to have slowed down and Bradley was able to elude him. Even the crowd at the MGM Grand Arena, was starting to boo by the 10th round because there was no action on the ring.
At the end of the 12th round, I was sure that Pacquiao had won despite his unspectacular performance. I could already imagine watching news videos of him celebrating in his luxurious hotel room after the fight and attending a thanksgiving mass. Then, he would return to the Philippines like a conquering hero and wave to his fans in a motorcade around Metro Manila, pay a visit to Malacañang and later attend more celebrations in Gensan and Sarangani.
Ho-hum, I thought. Pacquiao was richer by $26 million plus millions more from Pay-Per-View. So what else is new?
No Supreme Court in boxing to overrule results
It was time for the results. When the ring announcer Michael "Let's get ready to rumble!" Buffer intoned that the first judge, Jerry Roth, had scored it for Pacquiao, it was business as usual. Then the second judge, C.J. Ross had Bradley as the winner so it was a split decision. I was pretty sure the third judge, Duane Ford, would go for Pacquiao. But, it was a split decision in favor of Bradley.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was a shocking development that elicited thunderous booing from the live audience.
Pacquiao had finally suffered his first loss in seven years after 15 successive victories. Unfortunately, the decision of the judges could not be appealed. There is no Supreme Court in boxing that can overrule the results of a fight.
Interviewed after the fight, Pacquiao said he thought he had clearly won. It was an opinion that almost all people who watched the fight shared. I have yet to read a single item on the Internet that agreed with the judges' decision. It was truly a sad day for boxing.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
