Reversing itself, Nevada commission to review Pacquiao-Bradley bout

After a deluge of criticism of the shocking split decision in favor of Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer has changed his tune, and will now go over the tape of last weekend's fight with the judges involved.

 

"Even with bouts with less controversy, judges like to review the tape anyway," Kizer told RingTV.com. The decision to review the fight is a 180-degree turn from Kizer’s previous statement  to the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire that no such review was necessary. No one is suggesting that a review could reverse the controversial result, but it could lead to reforms. The fight's outspoken promoter, Bob Arum, has called for an age limit for boxing judges. "I know this from experience," Arum, 80, has said, "our attention span is less." Filipino international boxing judge Danrex Tapdasan believes what has to change is the sport's scoring system. "A boxer's dominance in a round is not reflected in the scoring," he told GMA News, citing the close scores in rounds that Pacquiao won handily. A review in June

 

Kizer went on to say that he still needs to get a copy of the tape and, depending on their schedule, would want to do it sometime this June.

 

However, the executive director quickly pointed out that the review was not a "negative thing," clarifying, "They [judges] see the bout from different angles and have to subjectively decide how hard a punch was, and relate it to the other punches landed in that same round.”

 

Kizer said that there are often many close rounds and that “it's hard to evaluate in real time."

 

Duane Ford, one of the judges who gave Bradley a 115-113 win, admitted to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had not seen the final punch statistics.

 

CompuBox stats had Pacquiao dominating in punches connected (34 percent versus 19 percent), jabs connected (24 percent versus 11 percent) and power punches connected (39 percent versus 28 percent).

 

"What I'm interested in seeing is where the rounds were close, and why one judge went this way and the other two went the other way," explained Kizer. "So again, what you're looking for is A) a good explanation and B) very similar if not the exact same criteria that the judges are applying to what they see and what they hear."

 

He told the LA Times' Pugmire, "Every fighter who loses a close fight looks at the judges," but also conceded, "I think every judge should strive to get better.”

 

Kizer’s comments to the Times were in response to Top Rank Boxing CEO Bob Arum’s clamor, in an interview with Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole, for an investigation.

 

Meanwhile, in cyberspace, fans have been getting organized in crafting a more coherent means by which to express their displeasure.

 

What they have come up with is an online petition asking the governor of Nevada to overturn the judges' decision regarding the Pacquiao-Bradley bout.

 

Hosted on petition site change.org, it has already gathered 24,568 cyber-signatures, out of its intended goal of 50,000.  —AMD/HS/DVM/VS, GMA News