EDITORIAL - Boxing knocks itself out

Manny Pacquiao says he will blow the daylights out of Timothy Bradley the next time they meet. Yeah, fine. But what will it cost this time? Another $26 million? Maybe even more? The only way boxing fans will swallow that boast if he waives any purse altogether in a rematch.

Pacquiao may have lost a title. His ego may be a little bruised. But there’s nothing he lost that cannot be recovered or assuaged by the $26 million he got for losing, especially if he is granted a rematch and gets paid another $26 million or more.

Bradley has been widely described as undeserving of the split decision win, that he did not put up a fight but spent most of his time inside the ring ducking and weaving to escape the punches of Pacquiao.

But why should anyone be blamed for ducking and weaving or, in other words, trying to avoid getting hit? Shouldn’t the blame be on the boxer who repeatedly fails to land the big shot that could have ended the bout in spectacular fashion as promised?

Remember, Pacquiao was paid $26 million to do precisely that. Pacquiao is the world’s most spectacular boxer, otherwise he would not have been paid as much as he was. Compare it with what Bradley got — a measly $5 million because that is probably what mediocrity is worth.

If Bradley escapes with split decisions all his boxing career, nobody would raise a howl because maybe that is as good as it gets with him. But if you are the most spectacular boxer in the world, a split decision, especially a lost one, is a cruel shortchange for $26 million.

And that brings us right back to Pacquiao. Surely, for $26 million (and P1,500 for PPV viewers of Skycable in Cebu), it is only fair for the world to expect something more spectacular than a split decision either way from its most spectacular boxer, right?

Pacquiao now wants a rematch to do what he should have done the first time. Worse, he may want to be paid more to do it. This is beginning to smell like a rip-off if there was one, like paying to have something delivered and having to pay again after the item got lost in transit. 

To calm things down, the WBO said it will review the fight. But it is doubtful if it can reverse the decision. And even if it does, it will be an admission that the judging was wrong. So boxing as a sport gets skewed. And there will be riots in the streets over bets already paid.