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Manny Pacquiao ‘Loss’ Won’t Go Away; WBO To Investigate

Timothy Bradley's victory is getting jabbed by many.

Whether it is genuine or contrived to please an aggravated public, the powers that be will not let the Timothy Bradley split decision over Manny Pacquiao Saturday night in Las Vegas rest.

One of boxing’s major sanctioning bodies will review the controversial  decision,  the first step toward what promoter Bob Arum hopes will be ”clarity” in the judging of the fight.

WBO President Francisco ”Paco” Valcarcel said in a statement Wednesday that the WBO’s championship committee will review video of the fight with five ”recognized international judges” and make a recommendation. He said the WBO does not doubt the ability of the scoring judges.

Most reporters seated ringside and the vast majority of fans inside the MGM Grand arena on Saturday night thought Pacquiao had easily defended his welterweight title against Bradley.

The first surprise came when ring announcer Michael Buffer announced that there was a split decision, and the biggest surprise came in the reading of the scores. Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao, while judges Duane Ford and C.J. Ross had it for Bradley by the same score.

”The public saw the fight and they’re outraged, and we need clarity here,” Arum told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ”We need those responsible to investigate, to see what happened, how the judges could be so off.

”Was there any funny business going on? Or no funny business? Did they have a conversation with each other?” Arum asked. ”We need to get clarity. The public is demanding it.”

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