What’s that line from Forrest Gump? Stupid is as stupid does?
For a sport that is losing ground to MMA and UFC fighting, the only way to maintain integrity and respectability is to ensure fair play and fair assessment of play.
On Saturday night in Vegas, undefeated Timothy Bradley earned a split decision victory versus the much celebrated Manny Pacquiao. The fight scoring was 115-113 by all 3 judges, but 2 sided with Mr. Bradley while only one sided with Mr. Pacquiao.
Judging from experts and social media feedback, the official scoring was inconsistent with others’ perspectives:
- Yahoo! Sports scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao;
- Tim Dahlberg of the AP scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao;
- Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao;
- Dan Rafael of ESPN scored the fight 118-110 for Pacquiao;
- HBO’s Harold Lederman scored the fight 119-109 for Pacquiao.
Furthermore, live streaming feeds which I followed on Yahoo Sports and ESPN during and after the fight were overwhelmingly lopsided in favor of Pacquiao.
According to CompuBox, Pacquiao landed 34% of his punches compared to 19% for Bradley. Furthermore, Pacquiao landed 82 more power shots.
Unfortunately, it’s these sorts of results that make skeptics of us all. Make us wonder if someone within the sport thought they could drum up greater interest in a Pacquiao-Bradley rematch if Pacquiao lost the first bout. Seems far-fetched, but in light of the circumstances I wouldn’t blame anyone that draws this conclusion.
At the end of the day, it’s no skin off my nose if boxing doesn’t care enough about its own image to ensure that fair play and fair assessment of that play is of tantamount importance to the credibility and re-branding of the sport.
At the end of the day, it’s no skin off my nose if boxing doesn’t care enough about its own image to ensure that fair play and fair assessment of that play is of tantamount importance to the credibility and re-branding of the sport.
But from strictly a business perspective, especially with MMA and UFC gaining such strides in popularity, perhaps boxing needs to consider re-evaluating its judging process…be it more judges or some other solution.
Because without a re-assessment of such procedures, I fear that boxing will keep taking uppercuts to perceptions of its integrity…or lack thereof.
Failing to undergo such self-evaluation could cost the sport even more fans long term who may not want to purchase a fight on Pay-Per-View or attend in person if they think the match evaluation process is fundamentally flawed, inconsistent, and unfair.
