Arum denies rigging Pacquiao-Bradley fight; Marquez rematch next?

Top Rank CEO and promoter of both Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, Bob Arum, has denied influencing the result of the duo's match last Saturday (Sunday, PHL time), calling such accusations "preposterous" in an interview with RingTV.com. Arum told Lem Satterfield in that interview that accusations of him "faking" outrage and that he had somehow "maneuvered this to get the rematch" were "not true" and "preposterous." Still, Arum was adamant that an investigation into the fight get underway, saying, "Let the attorney general look into it and let's get all of the facts out. I'm not saying that there was or wasn't any wrongdoing....But let's get somebody that we respect, like the attorney general of the state of Nevada, to conduct an investigation and to give a full report." He also confirmed that Pacquiao still had "another year and a half" left on his contract with Top Rank, addressing one sub-set of rumors about the Filipino congressman's supposedly expiring deal with them. Earlier in the week, Arum had told Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole that he wanted an investigation to see if someone had rigged the outcome of Saturday's WBO welterweight title defense by Pacquiao, which resulted in him losing via split decision to Bradley. "If this was a subjective view that each of [the judges] honestly held, OK. I would still disagree, but then we're off the hook in terms of there being no conspiracy. But there needs to be an independent investigation because it strains credulity that an event everybody saw as one-sided on way all three judges saw it as close. It strains credulity." Fight fans all around the world were stunned when the ring announcer pronounced Bradley the winner, 115-113, 115-113, 113-115. Similarly the vast majority of sports writers had Pacquiao winning. Because of the perception that Pacquiao was robbed of a win despite what many feel was a decisive performance, Arum is now worried that a rematch between the two boxers would not be financially lucrative. "We have to see what's the more lucrative fight to do. Manny has to see that as a choice. He fought a very close, controversial fight with Marquez that some people felt [Juan Manuel] Marquez won. He fought a fight with Bradley that nobody thought he lost, other than the two judges. So we have to now convince the public that the rematch will be somewhat different. Which is an easier sell?" said Arum to Satterfield. Pacquiao last fought Juan Manuel Marquez in November of 2011, escaping with a win some feel he did not deserve. "I speak the truth. I think that Tim Bradley is a lovely young man who tried very hard, but Bradley lost that fight. Period. I'm not going to say anything in a situation like this to cater to [Bradley's manager] Cameron Dunkin, or to cater to Tim Bradley. They're lovely, nice people, and I applaud them. But Pacquiao won this fight, and he won it easily. Period. End of story." Even prior to stepping into the ring with Pacquiao, Bradley had already constructed mocked-up posters of a rematch between the two fighters. Pacquiao's contract contains an option to immediately challenge Bradley to a rematch, though he has the option to waive this right. Both fighters, Pacquiao and Bradley, are raring to face each other again however, as both want to produce a more decisive result to their controversial bout. - AMD, GMA News