By Chris Robinson
It’s been fairly interesting hearing the feedback from boxing insiders on the controversy surrounding last weekend’s Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley bout. Inside of the MGM Grand, Pacquiao would lose a split-decision to Bradley over twelve rounds after appearing to have done more than enough to warrant the victory.
Recently I reached out to respected trainer Naazim Richardson to get his take on the whole ordeal. Known best for his work with Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley over the years, you can always count on Richardson for some interesting insight.
Continue reading for Naazim’s thoughts on how HBO’s 24/7 may have affected the public’s view of the fight, how Bradley’s body language during the contest told a different story than what was actually happening, why he doesn’t think a rematch may be the best move at this point, and much more.
This is what Richardson had to say…
The effect of 24/7 and the commentating during Pacquiao-Bradley…
“The Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley fight, I really believe is the first time that we saw 24/7 influence a fight. We saw what we believe is politics. One is, the fight was closer than the commenters were [commentating on]; Timmy was in the fight. But Timmy’s body language and his corner’s response, his corner was urging him. But the body language on Timmy made us think Manny was that much more ahead.”
Team Bradley’s possible concern with the judges’ scores…
“I understand his corner was urging him because they’ve seen [Pacquiao] win close fights before. The Marquez fights were closer and Manny got the decision in each one of those and nobody was hooting or hollering about it.”
Giving Bradley a break…
“Bradley is such a great dude, such a great personality and great human being, that it’s almost like there isn’t too much hell to be raised from the public’s point of view. I’m a Bradley fan and I’ve known him since he was about ten years old and if anybody deserves a break that kid deserves a break. He’s the story of hard work.”
Tim Bradley’s body language…
“I think Pacquiao took the edge but he never took control. Like I said, if Tim Bradley’s body language would have been different, the fight would have been more competitive. Tim shrugged his shoulders and started walking to his corner in a lackadaisical state like ‘Oh, I lost’. His body language more than actually happened. Then the commentators chimed in.
Opinion on the judging in the fight…
“I still got an axe to grind with the way Ford scored the Jermain Taylor fight. But I will give this to the judges from the judging I have done as an amateur. You can watch a fight on a different side of the ring and see a whole different fight, I’m telling ya. I’ve watched them fight from one side of the ring judging it and I went and watched it on tape and saw a whole different fight. It can happen.”
Not feeling a rematch completely…
“I think the rematch can be beneficial to either guy. From a business standpoint, if you have both of these guys you don’t need a rematch. Because Pacquiao is going to be Pacquiao and you can still sell him. Pacquiao could fight me tomorrow and you could sell it. And now that you have Bradley with a win over Pacquiao, you can move him in another direction and sell him too. From a business standpoint it doesn’t make sense to put them back together.”
