Boxing promoter Bob Arum was outraged and "felt ashamed" by the split decision giving Timothy Bradley a win over Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, but said it was the result of incompetence, not corruption. Arum said "this wasn't a close fight" and the decision was "not good for the sport of boxing."
"The one thing I refuse to even consider is that there was anything funny going on -- betting or anything," Arum said. "I don't believe that. To the bottom of my bones, I don't believe that. I know these guys. They're honest. They need to correct their vision, but they're honest."
Arum praised Bradley personally and as a determined fighter, but railed against the scoring, in which judge Jerry Roth gave Pacquiao the fight 115-113, but CJ Ross and Duane Ford both had unbeaten American Bradley winning by the same score.
Pacquiao appeared to land the more damaging blows throughout the contest and CompuBox electronic punch statistics showed Pacquiao connected on 253 punches to Bradley's 159, with a 63-51 advantage in jabs and 190-108 in power punches.
Arum questioned the competence of the judges, the selection process the Nevada State Athletic Commission used to choose them, and the fact that all came from Nevada.
He suggested the commission -- which oversees boxing in the state -- should make the judges available next week to explain what they saw.
He quipped that he would pay to send them to his eye doctor in Los Angeles, and gave a terse "no comment" when asked if the rematch between Bradley and Pacquiao proposed for November would be in Las Vegas.
Arum said he believed Pacquiao won 10 of the 12 rounds, and that Bradley's manager Cameron Dunkin told him ringside he had scored the bout 8-4 for Pacquiao, whose success in the ring has earned him adoration in his homeland and money-spinning celebrity status around the world.
In November, Pacquiao won a controversial decision of his own over Juan Manuel Marquez, but Arum said that at least that fight was close.
"This is nuts," Arum said. "People don't know what they're watching anymore. I'm going to make a lot of money (with a rematch). But who is going to take this sport seriously?"