Manny Pacquiao Declared Winner in Bradley Bout; WBO President Wants a Rematch
Manny Pacquiao was declared the official winner of his June 9 WBO welterweight championship title fight against Timothy Bradley, after five World Boxing Association judges reviewed the bout recently.
The WBO hired five independent judges to review the controversial fight that left many fans outraged after they witnessed 33-year-old Pacquiao land more punches than his opponent. While judges Duane Ford, C.J. Ross and Jerry Rith maintained that the Filipino boxer lost the majority of the final six rounds to Bradley, the five new anonymous judges all gave Pacquiao the win, according to Associated Press reports.
Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel, president of the WBO, did not want to disclose the names of the judges but did admit that Pacquiao was declared the unanimous winner of the fight after further review. However, the WBO president said he would not strip an officially undefeated 28-year-old Bradley of his welterweight title, urging the pair to face off once again in a rematch.
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Although he has flown back to the Philippines, The Associated Press reports that the congressman is ready for another bout with Bradley.
"My supporters shouldn't worry," Pacquiao said. "We're going to get that title.''
While Pacquiao's promoter and leader of Top Rank promotions, Bob Arum, first called for the investigation of the fight between both of his fighters, he is still unsatisfied after hearing that Pacman had been declared the winner.
Arum said he requested an investigation from Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto so that his name could be cleared of any wrongdoing.
"I told them they need to interrogate me, they need to interrogate Todd [duBoef, the Top Rank president] and all the people in my office. They have to ask hard questions," Arum told Yahoo! Sports. "Half of these websites are saying that the promoter is the one who did this and that I talked to these judges. I had nothing whatsoever to do with picking them and never talked to them."
