CROWD STUNNED AS BRADLEY GETS DECISION OVER PACQUIAO
By Scott Shaffer

Timothy Bradley W12 Manny Pacquiao... Many thought Manny Pacquiao would KO Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on Saturday. Some thought Bradley would outwork Pacquiao and win by decision. Others predicted Pacquiao would win on the scorecards. Everyone was shocked by the actual result: Bradley appearing to be dominated by Pacquiao but nonetheless winning a split decision over the most popular boxer in the world. The official scores were 115-113 (twice) for Bradley and115-113 for Pacquiao. HBO's Harold Lederman saw it 119-109 for Pacquiao, the Associated Press liked Pacquiao, 117-111 and Compubox easily favored Pacquiao in punches landed, 253-159. ESPN and Yahoo! Sports also favored Pacquiao from ringside. If you are looking for a legitimate reason to explain Bradley's win, it could be that Bradley threw more punches than Pacquaio, and perhaps two of the judges saw some of Bradley's misses as hits. However, boxing is full of conspiracy theorists who will say the controversial verdict was a sham to ensure a lucrative rematch, which is now virtually certain to happen. While the crowd booed the verdict, promoter Bob Arum entered the ring smiling afterwards, knowing he can put on the rematch on November 10th and make millions.  What is truly shocking to boxing insiders is that controversial verdicts usually go to the fan favorite, but that was not the case tonight.  Many will disagree with Bradley's win, but none will question his effort. Clearly less powerful than Pacquiao, Bradley fought hard, ignored punishment and tried hard to win. Bradley also seemed to hurt his ankle slightly in the early going. The undefeated Bradley is now the WBO and, if you accept the verdict as legitimate, the true world welterweight champion.  Fans will argue for months over how high to place Bradley in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings. After the fight, Bradley was circumspect, acknowledging the crowd's displeasure and saying he had to watch the fight before he could say if his win was deserved or not. Pacquiao, who lost for the first time since 2005, was calm afterwards, and protested only mildly. source: hbo ppv