Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective where we look at the world of boxing. This time we look at the controversial fight which took place Saturday night at the MGM Grand where Timothy Bradley shocked the world by taking a split decision over Manny Pacquiao to the stunned fans in attendance and the viewers on PPV.
Pacquiao dominates Bradley for easy Unanimous Decision
Bradley perseveres to surprising split decision
When you heard Michael Buffer read the first score of 115-113 you knew something was up. Yes, Timothy Bradley shocked the world with an upset win over Manny Pacquiao. However, it was probably not the way he wanted it. HBO’s Howard Lederman couldn’t have been that wrong from his 11 rounds to 1 Pacquiao score. Everyone couldn’t believe it, including Bradley. Somewhere Juan Manuel Marquez was probably saying, “Really?”
He actually said now he (Manny) knows how I felt.
Although Bob Arum was seen congratulating Bradley after the fight, he is seeking an investigation by the Nevada Attorney General. Per ESPN (via LA Times), that won’t happen.
Regardless of the investigation, the decision leaves a negative mark on the sport of boxing. It’s hard for anyone to say that Bradley won the fight. What’s more remarkable is that the champion (or the higher profile star) did not get the benefit of the doubt.
Pacquiao’s renewed commitment to his faith probably helped Saturday night as any other fighter would likely have gone nuts. Maybe we’re being too hard on the decision and should accept it like Pacquiao. But, if Pacquiao were to lose, you would have liked it to be a decisive victory by the opponent (think JDS win over Cain.)
Pacquiao’s 7 year, 15 fight winning streak marked a rejuvenation of boxing due in part to the Filipino contingent of fans and his general likability. It also marked a turning point for the lighter weight classes in boxing as Mayweather and Pacquiao began to receive huge purses for their fights. Its hard to imagine someone in the 140-150 pound weight classes getting $25-$40 million a fight 10 years ago.
SI points out the significance of Pacquiao:
When a shortage of marketable stars threatened the sport’s popularity in the late aughts, the effortlessly charismatic Pacquiao emerged as the sport’s biggest international star. Propelled by a quasi-messianic desire to stamp out poverty in his native Philippines — a compulsion that’s led him to pursue (successfully) a political career — Pacquiao became the most socially important boxer since Muhammad Ali. There won’t be another one like him anytime soon.
It’s likely we’ll see a rematch November 10th as that date was already set before the fight as a possible date in case something like this were to happen.
Payouts
Manny Pacquiao received a guaranteed $26 million including the upside of the PPV buys while Tim Bradley received $5 million and no report of a PPV cut. How will this change if we see a rematch in November?
24/7 – Pacquiao-Bradley
HBO ran its usual 24/7 series which ran on its network partners including CNN and TruTV. The Audience Network also ran Pacquiao-Marquez from November 2011. The fight was heavily promoted during the NBA Playoffs on TNT as well.
24/7 gave us a first look at Bradley as well as another look at Pacquiao. While the series gave us the standard fare I think the last couple minutes of the fourth installment of 24/7 was one of the best narration of the overall series. If you have it on DVR, rewatch it. The writer should win an award.
Does the decision Saturday night help MMA?
Listening to a sports radio show the day after the fight, they discussed how MMA was taking over combat sports as anyone can beat anyone in any given night. However, in boxing, they argued that could not happen. I will leave that failed argument aside but the question remains whether boxing took a hit. Many people on twitter proclaimed boxing dead after the judging debacle as some hypothesized a fix.
Even Dana White chimed in with his feelings of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The problem with the argument that MMA is taking over boxing is that the NSAC judges also judge MMA fights when the UFC is in Vegas. As we’ve seen, poor judging happens in MMA too.
What about not leaving it up to the judges? It’s an ongoing mantra in the UFC. I understand the argument but it also runs contrary to a boxer’s strategy and the opponents will. My argument is that going for the knockout each round is not a sound boxing strategy. If every fighter would throw like that, every fight would have a Leonard Garcia-type feel to it. Certainly Pacquiao was going for a knockout but to Bradley’s credit he was able to negate the advances.
Does the Pacquiao fight make people less inclined to pay $65 ($70 if its Mayweather) for a boxing PPV? Probably not. Despite the decision, people will still buy PPVs for big fights.
Will boxing fans convert to the UFC? That’s the hope if you are Zuffa. With the Fox relationship, the hope is that the boxing fan will get comfortable with MMA and Fox will give them every opportunity to watch it. The only problem right now is the constant injuries happening in the UFC. Imagine if Pacquiao had to pull out a week before this fight. The injuries in MMA could speak to the intense and variety of training that occurs in the sport but from a business standpoint the shuffling of cards and injury replacement hurt the promotion of the sport.
Corruption or Incompetence
The issue of corruption has come up with Bob Arum calling for an investigation of the judging. If it is discovered that corruption occurred, this would be a huge issue with the sport and could cause many to leave.
The 115-113 scores may have us believe its incompetence. As most analysts believe, the fight was a one-sided affair for Pacquiao. Thus, one might believe that its judge incompetence. What’s interesting is that the NSAC has stated it will not review the judge’s decision despite such an uproar. Good decision on the part of the NSAC?
Does the judge’s decision help boxing?
Does the Pacquiao controversy help boxing as more people are talking about it? SI’s Chris Mannix on the Dan Patrick Show compared it to a bench clearing brawl in baseball or the infamous Detroit-Ron Artest “Malice in the Palace.” Essentially, the press is good for the sport but long term good fights will make boxing. However, the problems with multiple organizations and promoters make good fights hard to put on. Mayweather-Pacquiao is Exhibit A. The fight has now lost its luster as both sides for one reason or another cannot agree to terms. Even if the fight finally happens (which I doubt), both fighters will be past their prime. From a business perspective, a May-Pac fight will do great business (gate, PPV buys, etc.) but not as good if it would have happened in 2010.
Sponsorships
– Beermaker Tecate had its usual rebate for its PPVs.
– Aside from Tecate in the middle of the ring, AT&T and Smart Phone (Filipino Telecommunications Provider)
– How good does Nike’s investment in Bradley look now? The swoosh signed up the new champ with a one year deal. Does anyone think that the Bradley “B” logo look a little like the Bentley logo without one of its wings?
– Buboy Fernandez had a ton of sponsors on his shirt. For a big man, he certainly made use of it.
– UFC official sponsor RYU sponsored boxer Teon Kennedy. Unfortunately, Kennedy was knocked down several times (I counted 5) during his fight.
– In the co-main event, Jorge Arce and Jesus Rojas fought to a No Contest. Some noteworthy sponsors for both. Arce sported Samsung while Rojas was sponsored by Steve Madden.
– Since it was an HBO PPV, the cameras showed the stars of HBO’s “True Blood” in the crowd. Coincidentally its season premiere was the following night.
Odds and Ends
– For those that think that Pacquiao deserved to lose because he held up the fight…Where were you actually going at 12:10 am EDT? Tape the fight and go to bed if you can’t stay up.
– If anyone rewatched the rest of the card, what was Randall Bailey’s walkout ring attire? He wore a balaclava and two axes on his back. I’ve never seen him before so maybe that’s his usual attire.
– Boxing glove makers Grant and Reyes were discussed during the fights. From what we know now, Grant is considered more of a puncher’s glove as the padding is more compact. Reyes is softer.
– Max Kellerman was complementing Pacquiao the whole night. I’m a fan (of Kellerman and Pacquiao) but at a certain point you shake your head.
Conclusion
This was a Manny Pacquiao driven fight as Bradley was not a known commodity. The fact that they announced that the fight would not start until after Game 7 of the Heat-Celtics matchup probably picked up some casual fans on the fence about buying the PPV. Of course, we now know that Manny was not going to fight until after the game too. Still, a Pacquiao fight will not exceed the May 5th Mayweather-Cotto fight. It will likely grab about 1 million PPV buys.
You’re wrong about the Grant and Reyes gloves, it’s the other way around.
The Mexican produced Reyes are the puncher’s glove, American produced Grant has the softer padding.
Bernard Hopkins should sue Bailey for copyright infringement for that walkout attire. B-Hop does the balaclava and Bailey’s axes were in an “X” like Bernard usually wears.
As for this decision helping MMA – not likely since it’s the same damn commissions for both. All fight-sports have this issue. I’ve seen ridiculous decisions in MMA, boxing and kickboxing. This is one of the worst I’ve ever seen in any, but that doesn’t make boxing worse. I don’t think this was corruption, I think it was incompetence and there’s plenty of that to go around.
I am angry at NSAC’s reaction. NJSAC suspended the judges involved in the Williams-Lara decision and that wasn’t as bad as this one (at least Williams was landing and consistently pressuring, coming forward and driving Lara back). NSAC needs to do the same.
The HBO booth was definitely riding Pac-Man’s nuts, but at least they admitted as much after the fight. Pacquiao was absolutely schooling Bradley, with or without the sound on. Manny looked good, Bradley only looked tough.
@Felix,
Just rewound the Bailey fight. During the fight, Emmanuel Steward explained that Reyes gloves were the puncher’s glove at one time but Grant is now the puncher’s glove. Grant is “more compact, much tighter,” according to Steward.
OK. Was not aware Grant had changed design. Thanks for info.
@Felix,
No problem.
This is why i quit watching boxing long ago. The last match i saw was Holyfield vs The tall Russian. The Russian might have landed 5 punches in the entire fight and was given the decision because it took place in the country he choose. It was the 6th straight boxing match that had a controverisal decision. So i have not watched a boxing match since.
“Listening to a sports radio show the day after the fight, they discussed how MMA was taking over combat sports as anyone can beat anyone in any given night. However, in boxing, they argued that could not happen. I will leave that failed argument aside but the question remains whether boxing took a hit.”
I think this is pretty obvious. Now dont get me wrong upsets can happen in boxing and everyone technically has a chance. But the sport of boxing is designed so it is almost impossible to win if you dont fit the mold of the fighter the rules are made for. The size of the gloves alone kill the punchers chance. The number of rounds, size of the ring, etc all make it so the faster, tecnical, better cardio guy wins. It is rare you can get beat because of 1 mistake or a couple. You have to have serious flaws. Your big punchers dont have a chance on current boxing rules.
In MMA every mistake can be the end. Often times its who makes the first mistake. You dont get many chances. 10-12 round you dont have to engage and attack all rounds. You can drag it out. You get hurt you got 2 beach ball sized gloves to cover your head. You got a large ring to move around to recover. MMA you have to attack all round because there is only 3-5. This increases the chance of getting tagged. Coving up when rocked doesnt work with 4 oz gloves. See Tito hide his battleship of a head behind his sailboat gloves. You cant go down and get a 10 count to recover and stop the attack. In MMA you have to keep fighting this is why the finish rate is so high in MMA and champs cant defend more than a couple fights before losig the title.
BS is once again full of pure garbage. Zuffa shill at work
I don’t know where the blame lies and haven’t been able to watch the fight yet, but I have a hard time seeing judges being that inept. PacMan outlanded Bradley by 59% and outlanded him in 10 of 12 rounds. I can’t recall ever seeing a decision in MMA that was so blatantly wrong. There are plenty of close ones, and a lot I think are wrong, but it doesn’t sound reasonable for anyone to score this for Bradley.
Nick,
He was almost double in power punches and his punches also had a lot more sting on them. Bradley’s punches were wide and wild, and he could only really land anything when Manny goaded him by standing in front of him. Manny was in control the entire fight. I gave Bradley at most 2 rounds.
Considering the recent MMA ratings, I’m not sure that MMA is killing boxing. Boxing is killing itself just fine and doesn’t need the help. And MMA is struggling for it’s own reasons.
Sampson
You are more than welcome to argue your case on this if you have one. But i suspect you dont and are just making comments to appear you actually know something. Boxers go on huge winning streaks with can after can to create a record. MMA fighters cant do that because there are so few rules and so may weapons that everyone has a chance. Take Jens Pulver for example. One of the first top UFC guys to leave the UFC. He won 3 fights in the UFC left and lost in a small show. Come back to the UFC won 4 fights and the title and left due to a contract dispute. He was UFC champ and went and got smashed 2 times in small shows. Jason Reinhardt ran up a boxing like record but he had to fight people with almost no wins on their record to do it. Boxers can fight respectable records in poor boxing cities and states to gets those record. You cant fight good record guys and not get beat at some point in MMA even if you are better.
Look at all the huge inflated records in boxing. If a guy is 50-10 he is a bum in boxing. Everyone who fghts for the title is unbeaten or less than 5 loss’ in over 30-50 fights. Vitali and Wladamir havent been beat in almost 10 year each. Every champ holds the belt for years and years on end. In MMA with the exception of a couple guys everyone is lucky to make 2 successful title defenses. Those guys have only been on top for 5 years. Only GSP, Silva, Hughes, and fedor have been on streaks that almost every boxer goes on.
You are crazy to act like boxing is on the level of MMA in the “anything can happen” factor.
Forgot to mention that many believe the Klitsko brother have suspect chins yet because of the clown gloves they havent been beat since 2003 and 2004. Thats because the rules make the punchers chance almost non existant. Most of the time they are in the ring with guys over 30 minutes. So they are not blowing guys out to protect their chin. Arlovski would never be able to stand in the cage for 30 minutes with the best fighters in the world and not get caught for 10 years.
I wouldn’t compare Arlovsky to the Klitschkos. Arlovsky has a very bad habit of backing up straight, while the Klitschkos under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward have learned to both use their range to keep opponents at bay and to move their heads, circle and clinch when necessary. Look at their footwork, for big guys they move very well.
The Klitschkos may or may not have weak chins, it’s difficult to test their chins because most fighters can’t withstand the barrage of punches they need to take to get inside of the Klitschkos’ range, and if they do they find that their opponent has either moved away or is clinching.
You would think that those “clown gloves” that the Klitschkos wear would allow their opponents to simply walk through the punches to land their own, but every fighter who has tried that has been stopped.
Bottom line, it’s not the “clown gloves” that allow the Klitschkos to win. It’s their boxing skill (footwork, head movement, punching power), their physical abilities (reach, size) and their ability to bend the rules when needed (by clinching). Boxers have been wearing “clown gloves” for a long time and we still get to see some spectacular knockouts. The gloves only really help you block punches. If you get hit clean, the extra weight of the gloves offsets the padding.
I dont disagree with any of that. Thats wasnt what my point was. Without those gloves the fights would be extremly fast and unpredictable. Klits bros have skill no doubt. But the gloves make sure that their skill wins out 9999/10000. It would allow boxers to come out banging. Something they cant do with the gloves. The odds of landing are so low compared to MMA. The gloves directly effect the chance of landing a big punch. IF you get you big gloved fist past their two big gloved fists and land clean the weight of the gloves helps. But that is a BIG IF. Both sports have headmovement and all that they plays into defense. But you cant argue that the gloves lower than chance of landing a big shot. This is why speed and skill is so important in boxing. You have to use the proper punches and combo’s to get around the gloves. Body work is much ore important because it gets them to drop their gloves. Not so much in MMA because you can land to the head without them dropping their hands.
Boxing took a hit in that is now has an unmarketable champ in Bradley. No one will care or pay PPV for his next fight, maybe not even for a rematch. Who knows if PAcquio even wants a rematch. He will make the same circa $25 mil + PPV for whoever he fights, more in the Mayweather fight ever happens. Fighters don’t need boxing, boxing needs fighters.
BS,
That’s true. In MMA you can load up on punches because they are more difficult to block even if you see them coming. In boxing you have to be a little more sneaky to land a clean shot because anyone can turtle up and block pretty much everything you throw at them.
Since when did the Klitschko’s ever actually block?
Those guys use their feet to bounce in and out or range. They lean back to avoid shots when their opponent manages to get close enough. Both of them use a shotgun jab to maintain distance.
Then again, why am I even discussing this when some idiot refers to boxing gloves as “beach ball sized”. They have obviously never held a pair of 8 oz reyes in their hands and have probably never set foot in a boxing ring.
Typical BS from BS
So i have to get in a boxing ring to be able to talk about the subject. I can tell you have never stepped in the cage or competed in a BJJ Gi but that dont keep you from opening your trap on here about MMA. Yes when a boxer can cover his entire head with his gloves i would call that pretty damn large gloves. The fact you have to cherry pick a brand to give you the slightest foothold of a arguement proves my point. Either way the issue here is wether it is easier to block strikes with Boxing or MMA gloves. You can try to change the subject to beach ball or no beach ball all you want. You tried to dispute that and cant. Now you look like a fool trying to change the subject.
Boxers stay standign the entire fight yet you can count how many big shot upsets on 1 hand over the last 20 years. MMA guys spend most of the time on the ground yet i can name tons of upsets with guys coming out banging. Or a big title fight that ended in 1 big shot. I dotn have to go back to Rahman vs Lewis in 2001 in MMA.
You simply have to hold a pair of 8 oz professional boxing gloves in your hands idiot.
I have but you didnt say that. You mentioned a specific brand. I have worked with 10 oz, 16 oz and 20 oz boxig gloves.
Back to the point you are avoiding. Boxers like is shown in this pic im posting cant easily hide their heads behind their gloves. Regardless of the actual weight of the gloves they take up more than 3 times the area than that of a MMA glove. Making it a MUCH more effective shield from punches. Its sad that we need to bring in the Mythbusters to show you something that should be common sense.
http://www.mayweather-pacquiao.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Mayweather-defense.jpeg
That’s pretty funny bringing up 16 oz gloves when all fights are fought with 8 and 10 oz.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01008/vitali_1008020c.jpg
What the hell does that have to do with anything? I me ntioned i have worked with them as well as 10 oz gloved you moron! I havent used 8 oz gloves because im not 130 lb paper weight. Keep twisting my comments to avoid the subject. The larger the glove the harder it is to land that is why i mentioned the other gloves. Landing with 20 oz gloves is much harder than landing with 10 oz gloves. 8 and 10 oz gloves are harder to land than 4 oz MMA gloves. Now are you going to admit to getting owned here or come back with some comment about my spelling or grammer?