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The Pacquiao-Bradley "Fix"

SERIOUS SUSPICIONS START to surface lately on the probability of a fix fight in the Pacquiao-Bradley split decision that had the Pambansang Kamao on the losing side. I thought I was the only one on this suspicion; but apparently not.

Many are actually asking this difficult question: is Manny Pacquiao involved in the fix?

If you still can remember rounds one through five, Manny behaved so much like the Manny we know--strong, fast, both in hands and feet. But when the bell rang to start Round 6, Manny slowed down significantly, perhaps around 70 percent of the Pacquiao we know.

Could that slow down be a cue for the "fix" mechanism to proceed?

There are many benefits for a setup of such a fix. First, that's supposed to be Manny's last fight before he hands his boxing gloves. Losing a fight that can be convincingly one later on after Manny has tested what Bradley can dish out was no unavoidable loss, but a strategic one. It gives Manny an excuse to fight at most two more even he already made public his plan to retire after the fight. No Filipino will fault him for giving Bradley a rematch because he has to in order to save his welterweight belt as well as his legacy in boxing history.

Second, this apparent show of "weakness" in Manny Pacquiao has a potential to flush out Mayweather into a career-crowning battle of the century. It is apparently the same gambit that he made in his earlier fight with Marquez, again to appear seemingly weak, to motivate Mayweather to come out of his hiding and fight Pacquiao in the ring.

Third, the guaranteed purse sharing and his share on the pay-per-view reviews will not change with the loss. Money-wise the guarantee was on.

Fourth, the appearance of being cheated his belt made Manny more a hero in the eyes of the boxing world because he obviously won the fight, but failed in the judges. The sympathy of the fans was with him.

Fifth, Manny can regain his prominent title in the rematch because he is obviously a better fighter than Bradley. A third fight can even be arranged in a financially rewarding manner.

These factors are simply too rewarding not to be tempting for the Pac-Man. Of course, it is not saying that he hatched this idea, or even worked in setting up on it. Someone could have persuaded him to play this game at least before he bows off from the sports for good.

If this fix indeed occurred, it is not difficult to see who arranged this to happen the way it had.

At the end of the day, in a fair game, the better athlete wins the game most of the time. If Manny can be honest about it, he could have won the game convincingly but he did not, by choice or what we still do not know (he still has to explain to us why he slowed down in Round 6). If there's a fixing involved then what we observed gives a telltale story of it.


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