No Asterisk for Bradley

Well, my wife, my brother-in-law and I watched the replay of the Pacquiao-Bradley championship fight on HBO. My wife and I had it 115-113 Pacquiao. My brother-in-law had it a draw. We are all experienced fight-watchers.

I did not keep the pledge that I made, which was to watch the fight with the sound turned off, so as not to be influenced by the allegedly biased commentary of the HBO crew. I did disagree with them in spots, and I strongly disagreed with Harold Lederman, who overwhelmingly scored the fight in favor of Manny Pacquiao. Unusual, because I agree with Harold most of the time.

Bradley seemed to score more points in terms of landing punches, but Pacquiao seemed to have more effect when he landed his. There was indeed a power differential. But Bradley showed himself to be, if not the worthiest opponent for Pacquiao so far, at least one of them.

So was the official decision questionable, or worthy of an investigation? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The decision falls well within the parameters of what any reasonable group of judges would have done – the fight was that close.

The bottom line is that we should all allow Timothy Bradley to enjoy his victory. He’s the champ, and there’s no asterisk involved.