By Gel Santos Relos
NEWSFLASH:
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid calls for Nevada investigation into Pacquiao's boxing title loss to quell the uproar following the fight.“From all the reports that I’ve seen by people on the outside who saw the fight, who attempted to be fair and judge the fight, Pacquiao won the fight.”said Reid, a former member of the Nevada Athletic Commission who used to judge boxing matches.
Senator John McCain of Arizona says, "I completely agree with Senator Reid-- the decision was a disgrace to boxing."
Even before Top Rank promoter Bob Arum submitted a formal request to the office of Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto for a "full and complete inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the scoring" of Saturday's fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Fil-Am leaders have already written an open letter addressed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission to call for the same probe.
This was the sentiment of not only many kababayans who watched the fight in the arena and via pay-per-view, but of many boxing experts and enthusiast all over the world who found the Bradley victory by a split decision questionable because most thought Pacquiao dominated the fight.
Even Pacquiao himself said while he did respect the judges’ decision, he thought and believed he has won the fight.
The boxing world was so shocked and outraged by the decision of Judges Duane Ford and C.J. Ross, both appointed by the Nevada State Athletic commission, each scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Bradley, a junior welterweight titleholder who had moved up in weight to challenge Pacquiao for his belt. It was just Judge Jerry Roth who scored in Pacquiao’s favor- 115-113.
As ESPN reports, “Nearly every media member at ringside, as well as HBO's broadcasters, had the fight as a wide victory for Pacquiao and the crowd of 14,206 rained boos down when the result was announced.”
CompuBox punch statistics also showed a pacman victory, according to ESPN. Pacquiao landed 253 of 751 punches (34 percent) while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 percent). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power punches (190-108) and landed more overall punches in 10 of the 12 rounds.
“What the hell were these people watching? ... How can you watch a sport where you don't see any motive for any malfeasance and yet come up with a result like we came up with tonight. How do you explain it to anybody?” Arum said.
“Lutong Macao” conspiracy theories have dominated the global conversation, definitely going beyond and deeper than the usual “sour graping” or “sore losers” labels some Filipinos affix to kababayans who question the results.
"The only way to restore fans' confidence in boxing is by letting an independent body investigate every detail of the fight no matter how big or small. Sunshine never hurt anyone." Arum said.
This is also the rationale behind the letter of the Filipino-American community leaders to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Here is the text of the letter written by the executive directors of the Migrant Heritage Commission, a Fil-Am community organization based in Washington DC area, dated June 10, 2012.
OPEN LETTER TO THE NEVADA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION
June 10, 2012
MR. RAYMOND AVANSINO
Chairperson
Nevada State Athletic Commission
Dear Mr. Avansino,
Greetings!
We write in great urgency to ask the Nevada State Athletic Commission to conduct an investigation into the recent boxing bout of Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley. In the spirit of public accountability and decency, and public trust, we view it is but fair and just to conduct an immediate probe as to why the scorecards of the judges Cynthia J. Ross and Duane Ford did not jive with the statistics of the computer-analyzed Compubox.
The world thought there was something bizarre in the judging that night. All throughout the game, Pacquiao had been mostly in control. Ringside punching statistics showed Pacquiao landing 253 punches to 159 for Bradley. The Compubox statistics showed Pacquiao landing more punches in 10 of the 12 rounds. Major networks CNN, HBO, BBC, and USA Today had been analyzing the game with Pacquiao as the winner.
The Migrant Heritage Commission is a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, DC and provides legal services and cultural development programs to immigrants all over the US. MHC believes that the NSAC owes the public their right to transparency and accountability in this billion dollar worth of sports that they strongly and passionately support.
Thank you and we appreciate your prompt action on this matter.
Sincerely yours,
MIGRANT HERITAGE COMMISSION
ARNEDO VALERA, ESQ.
GRACE JARAMILLO
JESSE GATCHALIAN
Executive Directors
(Asian Journal Column Article, June 13, 14, 15, 2012)
