Pacquiao mulls options on rematch

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao is weighing his options: he may or may not fight Timothy Bradley in a rematch in November.

“Puwede mag-rematch, puwede hindi. It depends,” said the Filipino superstar inside the bedroom of his La Palazzo apartment Tuesday.

But if and when the rematch takes place, Pacquiao said he will make sure it’s decisive.

“Wala nang judges (No need for judges),” he said, insinuating that he will knock Bradley out.

Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight belt via a controversial split decision in Las Vegas last Saturday.

“If everybody else thinks that I won the match, then why do we have to do a rematch,” he said as friends gathered in front of him on a quiet afternoon.

 Pacquiao clearly dominated the 12-round contest at the MGM Grand, but lost in the eyes of the judges, two of them scoring it 115-113 for the outpunched American.

Only one judge had Pacquiao winning by a similar margin, but he himself is under public scrutiny because it was hard to imagine the fight being as close as he scored it.

Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, has called for an investigation on the way the fight was scored, and has filed a formal protest with the Attorney General’s Office in Nevada.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission, under Keith Kizer, said it will call the three judges individually, to look into the way each of them scored the fight witnessed by millions.

It now ranks among the most controversial decisions in boxing history, perhaps the worst since Roy Jones lost to Park Si-hun in the finals of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

 There’s a rematch clause in the fight contract, but it’s really up to the fighting congressman from the Philippines if he wants it to happen in November.

Even before the fight took place, the undefeated Bradley was telling everyone he’d beat Pacquiao, and even pulled off a stunt regarding the rematch.

Bradley said he had fight posters and fake media credentials for the Nov. 10 rematch printed and even carried an oversized fight ticket to the final press conference.

But it turned out that the victory was not an assurance that the rematch would happen.

“It’s still my option. It’s just an option. It can happen or it cannot,” said Pacquiao, who after the loss dropped to No. 5 in the pound-for-pound rankings of www.boxrec.com.

Pacquiao’s adviser, Michael Koncz, said it’s all up to Pacquiao if he wants a rematch.

“It will depend on how outrageous Bradley’s demand will be,” said Koncz, suggesting that Bradley, now 29-0, might ask for the moon.

“It’s Manny’s choice,” said Koncz who stood beside Pacquiao.

The eight-division world champion will stay a bit longer in Los Angeles to shoot his scenes in the Hollywood movie he’s in, and be with his wife and kids.

 “He will go to Disneyland first,” said Koncz.