Skip to main content

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.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts of Discounts

SECTION 13 of the New Code of Philippine Judicial Conduct (27 April 2004) stated: Judges and members of their families shall neither ask for nor receive any gift, bequest, loan, or favor in relation to anything done or to be done or omitted to be done by him or her in connection with the performance of judicial duties. Its annotation explains that: Public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of money value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office." The key phrase here is--"in the course of their official duties." It means that as long as a judge remains a judge of Philippine courts, this Code applies, prohibiting any receipt, directly or indirectly, from any person. The question then is: Is a discount a gift? ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Substate-of-a-Gun

THE MORO ISLAMIC Liberation Front (MILF) boldly declared that Muslims be allowed to run their government even "if they go to hell by their own making, so be it." I go for a lasting peace in Muslim Mindanao; but I have serious doubts on real peace when these armed Muslim leaders cannot accept the fact of life that Mindanao is no longer a Muslim territory after Muslim settlers took the land from the Lumads in the prehistoric Philippines. I came from Zamboanga, and grew there. Despite MILF's claim of representing the dream of Muslims in Mindanao, I have serious doubts if the leaders are merely using this separatist slogan for their own aggrandizement. Look at ARMM under MNLF's Nur Misuari who had nothing to show for the tax shares it received from the government. And reports had it Misuari kept a huge sum from this money for his own accounts. So I have so much reservations on the lasting peace settlement with the MILF can bring. First, how much really of our Muslim si...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Catholic-Ivory Connection

THE ENORMOUS FIGURES of seized ivory smuggled "through" the Philippines--5.4 tons in 2009; 6.1 tons from China in 2006; 7.7 tons in 2005--prove the huge market of ivory in the country. It may be argued as a mere transhipment affair; but from all indications, it may not be so alone (why in the first place would smugglers from China passes through the Philippines? Does that make Philippine shipments to China safe by reputation?). By these figures alone we can surmise that these smuggling activities happen year in and out. With 2007 and 2008 reporting no cease or seizing of shipments, you can only presume that the supplies reached their intended receivers. I noticed in Brian Cristy's National Geographic article "Ivory Worship"  the perceivable excitement in the Catholic clerics he interviewed when speaking about the ivory icons. The reports from icon-makers in Manila on the regularity of Catholic clerics, religious and laity in their shops to purchase icons...
Post a Comment
Read more