10/06/12 Pacquiao beats Bradley, but Bradley leaves Champion

I had stated in my Pacqiuao v Bradley post that it would be close, i also stated that it would end on a split decision, what i didn't predict was the winner. It was inevitable that this fight was going to go to the wire, Pacqiuao for me is a little past his best but still has a lot to offer, accountably speed, movement and experience, all of which came in to play this past Saturday against Bradley. 751 punches thrown 253 landed for 'pacman' in comparison to Bradley's 159 out of 839 punches landed, yet it still wasnt enough for the Welterweight Champion to pick up a win. Pacquiaio dominated the fight early on and looked to have rocked Bradley a couple of times, but Bradley weathered the storm and came on quick in the middle of the bout. It was at the back end of the fight were the judges must have seen different to everyone else, as it seemed that Pacquiao was the more dominant of the two men and certainly finished the stronger, landing more power punches than 'desert storm.'

The initial 115-113 announcement from the first judges scorecard raised a few eyebrows as this seemed a lot closer than people had thought, the worse was yet to come for Pacquiao as the remaining judges had it 115-113 to Bradley as he became the new Welterweight Champion.
It leaves many questioning the state of the Nevada Boxing Comity and the people involved, but also leaves many people wondering why Bob Arum seemed to happy for Bradley after the fight, when ultimately his promotion company took a big hit. Arum was seen congratulating Bradley and smiling from ear to ear, yet comments made after the fight would have said otherwise, 'incomprahensable' was how the Promoter described the events. People believe that as the announcement of the rematch clause for November reached us extremely early on in the year, it was a huge money making scheme to line Arums pockets.

I believe that it was poor judges again that have destroyed a great night of Boxing, but i take nothing away from Bradley as he could only do his best, and if his best was enough to sway the judges then so be it. Pacquiao has looked strong in his last few fights but remember he has struggled to be the dominant force he once was. I haven't seen him look primed since his sensational KO of Ricky Hatton and he has had his share of judges on his side, particularly in his encounters with Juan Marquez. So it is not unusual that the unbeaten Bradley would eventually become a Champion or even eventually beat Pacquiao as we often see with younger upcoming fighters, but it just seems such a shock to the Boxing world that he would become champion on that performance.
It leaves two questions,

Who will Bradley fight next? Will he accept the rematch with Pacquiao for November or maybe look at his training partner Amir Khan.

Will we see Mayweather v Pacquiao? It would certainly give Mayweather ever bit of leverage to pull all the strings in setting up a fight with Pacqiuao.