Coming into tonight's HBO pay-per-view bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, I had predicted Bradley would take the upset decision. However, I didn't see it going down like it did.
Manny Pacquiao seemed to dominate the fight against Timothy Bradley from the opening round. While there were a few (3-4) rounds that seemed like the could be scored for Bradley, it seemed impossible by the time the final bell had sounded that Tim had done nearly enough to take a decision, but that's exactly what happened.
Pacquiao's key punch the entire fight was the hard straight left hand and his powerful blows were certainly more telling than Bradley's much lighter shots. Beyond the quality and power of the shots landed, Pacquiao dominated in terms of actual punches landed and accuracy.
While Bradley was more than willing to exchange and get into ill-advised firefights, the fight appeared to clearly not be going his way.
However, when the official scorecards were read, after the first 115-114, Michael Buffer said "Pacquiao" which meant we had a split decision. The next card was 115-114 for Bradley. Despite all certainty that the final card would see Manny's hand raised, Buffer once again said Bradley, giving Tim the split decision win.
It's a shocking result and one that makes very little sense given Manny's status as the "money fighter" in the bout. Normally the robberies go to the guy whose win brings in more money for the promoters, but that wasn't what happened tonight. Manny Pacquiao is a worldwide star while Bradley is a lighter hitting, mostly unknown fighter who isn't really even a welterweight.
We'll have much more on the shocking result of this fight over the coming hours and days. So keep your browser locked in.
