WBO JUDGES PANEL DECIDES PACQUIAO WON HANDILY

The five independent judges picked by the World Boxing Organization Championship Committee to review the tape of the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley title fight on which Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight title in a split decision that drew worldwide condemnation, has scored the fight overwhelmingly for Pacquiao. WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel forwarded a copy of the judges scorecards to the Manila Standard along with his letter to Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer in which he reiterated “there is no question of our respect and high regard for the official judges. Their integrity is not in question. However, it was decided that a review of the bout should take place with a panel of five confidential judges mainly to maintain impartiality.” Valcarcel noted that the instructions to the panel was to watch the tape without background commentary and to then vote after which the WBO analyzed the results. The panel of judges disagreed with the scoring of judges Duane Ford and Cynthia Ross who scored the fight for Bradley 115-113 while CJ Roth had Pacquiao the winner 115-113. Review judge No. 4 had Pacquiao winning by the widest margin of 118-110 while Judges 3 and 5 scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao. Judge No. 2 had Pacquiao the winner 116-112 which was the unofficial scorecard of the Manila Standard while Judge No.1 had it closest with Pacquiao winning 115-113 which tallied with the scorecard of official judge CJ Roth. A closer reading of the scorecards shows that all five review judges agreed unanimously that Pacquiao won rounds 1, 3, 5, 6 and 11 while all five agreed unanimously that Bradley won round 10. The judges voted 3-2 for Bradley in round 2, 4-1 for Pacquiao in round 4. 3-2 for Pacquiao in round 7, 4-1 for Pacquiao in round 8, 3-2 for Pacquiao in round 11 and 3-2 for Bradley in round 12. Valcarcel noted “the results speak for themselves.” Top Rank promoter told the Manila Standard that the investigation of the Nevada State Attorney General’s Office is being pursued as the Chief Investigator and the Deputy Chief Investigator visited him in his Las Vegas office on Wednesday morning and “questioned me about a lot of background things for over an hour.” Arum said they asked him whether he had any proof of criminality and he answered “none, absolutely none.” The Top Rank promoter agreed that the WBO findings means the NSAC needs a major revamp of the system and has to bring in some younger judges from a wider pool. “That goes without saying” said Arum. He said “the pool of officials is way too limited. They have to broaden it to include the best judges and referees from all over the world.” Boxing writer Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that NSAC chairman Skip Avansino disclosed that under their system Kizer submits a pool of six names to the Commission from which the judgfes are selected. He also revealed that prior to the selection both fighters camps are asked if they have any objections and if there are none ( as was presumably the case in the Pacquiao-Bradley fight) Kizer gives his recommendations to the commission and they are usually approved unanimously. Carp said Kizer had revealed that the Attorney General’s Office had requested documents and tapes connected to the fight and that the Commission sent the information including the judges scorecards and the minutes of the May 21 meeting when they were selected. The NSAC chairman at the same time said the commission had no problem using judges from outside Nevada but would defer to Kizer on such decisions. Avansino said Kizer “is best suited to determine the capability of all officials he brings before us for recommendation.” Arum said that in view of all these developments that a rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley is out of the question for the moment “at least until we have some definitive statement that this occurred by judges error” and not anything else. Pacquiao himself told ABS-CBN News that while he welcomed and thanked the WBO for its decision which he said should serve as a lesson to the judges but that he is not planning any unilateral action and will leave the matter in the hands of the WBO. Pacquiao indicated he is still open to a rematch with Bradley but will discuss the matter with Arum when they meet in the second or third week of July. In his letter to Kizer, the WBO president said he would “respectfully suggest that more participation of duly registered and licensed officials by the Commission be pursued as this would create a better work environment. It is a way to explore the improvement of the sweet science.”