In what most observers are calling a highly questionable if not indefensible decision by judges in Nevada, Timothy Bradley won a split decision victory over Manny Pacquiao Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Bradley won 115-113 on two scorecards. Pacquiao took 115-113 on only one judge's ledger. MMA Fighting scored the bout 117-111 in favor of Pacquiao. The victory makes Bradley the new WBO welterweight champion.
Pacquiao appeared to be en route to a clear unanimous decision win. According to the punching statistics shown in the HBO pay-per-view broadcast, Pacquiao landed 190 of 493 power punches to Bradley's 108 of 390. In terms of overall punches, Pacquiao also outlanded Bradley: 253 of 751 for Pacquiao, 159 of 839 for Bradley.
Bradley fought more competitive rounds later in the fight, but was battered early with hard punches. Bradley was never out of the bout, but was rocked several times and controlled by Pacquiao's superior punching power.
As part of the contractual terms in the signing of tonight's bout, a Bradley victory meant Pacquiao would earn an automatic rematch November 10th of this year.
"It's part of the game," Pacquiao told HBO commentator Max Kellerman after the decision was announced. "I accept that whole-heartedly. I did my best, but my best wasn't good enough." Pacquiao did state, however, he believed he won the fight.
MMA Fighting has a Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley live blog for round-by-round updates for one of the top boxing fights of the year.
The main event will start a little after 11:30 p.m. ET. Check out our
Pacquiao vs. Bradley results page to find out what happened on the undercard.
Check out the main event live blog below.
Round 1: Pacquiao opens southpaw while Bradley is orthodox. Pacquiao goes to the body after jabbing and lands. Bradley triples up on the jab and lands a right partially through the gloves. Pacquiao drives a straight right upstairs, but Bradley blocks it completely. Bradley lands a hard right and left to the body. Pacquiao drives two hard straight lefts at the end, both the best punches of the round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao
Round 2: Pacquiao starts the round with another straight left, but Bradley responds with a right of his own. Pacquiao's already got Bradley reacting, but he does land a right. Pacquiao fires a left and misses as Bradley as his left hanging low. The fighters exchange straight punches. Close round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 20-18 thus far
Round 3: Pacquiao again lands a straight left timing off the right, but Bradley's still in Pacquiao's face. And another straight left. Bradley curls a right hook to the body. Pacquiao again drives a left to Bradley's jaw. Good right by Bradley, but he pays for it with another left from Pacquiao.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 30-27 thus far
Round 4: Pacquiao eats a right hook to the body, but it's not super heavy. They're brawling in close quarters and trading shots. Pacquiao lands a right hook. Referee warns Bradley to get his punches up. Pacquiao seems really lose now and is landing hard. Bradley looks to be hurt and is holding on after Pacquiao pours it on.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 40-36 thus far
Round 5: Bradley slowing down a lot now and Pacquiao seems to be looking for a particular kind of shot. Bradley backs Pacquiao into a corner, but a four-punch combination allows him to work his way out. Pacquiao lands a huge left hand and again Bradley seems hurt, but manages to hang on until the end of the round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 50-45 thus far
Round 6: Pacquiao jabbing and looking to open Bradley up, but so far he's playing coy. Bradley lands a bit of a right hook. Pacquiao, however, returns fire and lands two hard left hands. Now he's got Bradley against the ropes and is trying to bomb on him. Pacquiao lands a left between the gloves.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 60-54 thus far
Round 7: Bradley opens the round driving a couple of hooks to Pacquiao's ribs, but they don't phase him at all. Pacquiao now landing a hard left to the Bradley's midsection. Another left straight from Pacquiao. Pacquiao sticking and moving and while Bradley is trying it's just not working. Bradley gets a little rocked again with a left.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 70-63 thus far
Round 8: Bradley again lands two nice hard right hooks. Near headbutt there and Pacquiao lands a right and now a left again. Lots of clinches and lots of breaks and this should be another round for Pacquiao even if the Filipino is often off balance chasing punches at the end of combinations.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 80-72 thus far
Round 9: Bradley opens every round with hooks to the body. Pacquiao tries to land a straight left, but it's blocked. Bradley slips dodging a punch and the crowd roars, but nothing happened. Fighters now trading hard hooks, but Pacquiao's punches seem to be a lot harder. Nice right by Bradley lands and then a left. Pacquiao drives a left hand through Bradley's defense.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Bradley, 89-82 thus far
Round 10: Pacquiao covering up as Bradley is a little more active than usual. Bradley landing punches here and there to chants of his name in the arena. Pacquiao not doing much at all this round. Nothing dominant for Bradley, but Pacquiao's output in this frame has been slow.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Bradley, 98-92 thus far
Round 11: Both fighters trading jabs and now Bradley pressing Pacquiao against the ropes, but can't get anything from it. Pacquiao lands a nice left straight. Hard right hook by Pacquiao and another near headbutt. Both fighters trade right hooks.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Pacquiao, 108-101 thus far
Round 12: Nice sneaky short left over the top for Bradley. And then a good right to the body for the challenger. Hard but short right over the top from Pacquiao. Pacquiao eats an uppercut as Bradley is trying to finish strong. Left hand for Pacquiao finds the mark as the fight ends.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Bradley, 117-111 overall
Strangely, Timothy Bradley defeats Manny Pacquiao by split decision (115-113 B, 115-113 P, 115-113 B)
MMA Fighting has live results of of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight card in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
When the main event begins, around 11:30 p.m. ET, check out our
Pacquiao vs. Bradley live blog for live round-by-round updates. Prior to the main event, we'll have live updates and results on all the undercard fights below.
Check out the Pacquiao vs. Bradley results below.
Jorge Arce vs. Jesus Rojas
Round 1: Both fighters standing orthodox and right away there's activity. Already, Rojas goes down off of a left hook, but he appears to be ok. Arce has Rojas pinned to the ropes and is landing short hooks and uppercuts. They back up. Now Rojas is trying to back Arce up as he takes center of the ring. Rojas is landing his fair share of shots despite the early knockdown. Rojas is really pressuring Arce and lands a hard left hook as the round ends.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-8 Arce.
Round 2: Arce is hit with a low blow followed by a rabbit punch. Arce crumbles and writhes around on the floor. He can't continue and appears to have equilibrium issues. Referee Kenny Bayless says the shot from Rojas was unintentional and since Arce can't continue, the fight ends in a no contest.
The fight is called a no decision officially at 0:09 due to an unintentional foul
Mike Jones vs. Randall Bailey
Round 1: Both fighters open orthodox and right away Bailey takes center of the ring. Jones rises from a crouch trying to land a left hook, but it mostly misses. Bailey still taking center position, but not throwing a lot. The fighters tie up after a right from Bailey misses, but the referee separates them.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Bailey
Round 2: Bailey is right back to the center at the start of the round, but eats a left hook. The crowd begins to boo due to a lack of activity. Left hook again lands for Jones, but nothing else. A little dirty boxing from Jones, but the referee doesn't call it. Jones again trying the leaping left and right hooks, but both are blocked.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 19-19 thus far
Round 3: Jones lands a right hook and fires a few lefts to the body. Bailey looking for the right, but not really throwing it. Jones has no jab and is trying to land hooks. Jones again looking for the left hook and lands it, but he nearly gets clocked with a counter right. Jones digs to the body and blocks another right from Bailey.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 29-28 thus far
Round 4: Jones starting to chop with the hooks both to the head and body early. Bailey whiffs big time on a right uppercut. Decent overhand right from Jones partially lands. Jones isn't doing much, but Bailey is doing even less. Jones trying to land a hook and escape the pocket. Round ends without much action.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 39-37 thus far
Round 5: Jones, like in every other round, working from the outside trying to rush in with punches while Bailey holds center position in the ring. Bailey fires a home run right, but only partially lands. Jones trying to fire as many shots as possible to Bailey's midsection when he's in close. Jones rips several left hooks to the body. Decent right straight from Jones before the round closes.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 49-46 thus far
Round 6: Jones jabs to the body. Jones again trying to just fire as much as possible when he dives in close. Not much different in this round than there has been in any round. Jones trying his best to get away with dirty boxing, but this time the referee catches it. Really inactive, boring round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 59-55 thus far
Round 7: Jones lands a nice left hook to the body and then one over the top. Here comes the boos from the audience. I'm not sure Bailey's thrown more than a handful of punches this round. Rinse and repeat for this round as it is for every other preceding round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 69-64 thus far
Round 8: Jones almost chasing Bailey with lunging strikes and landing with only the same level of effectiveness as he achieved in previous rounds. Not sure what to write as each round looks nearly identical to the last. Jones landing a tiny bit more this time, but not significantly.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 79-73 thus far
Round 9: Jones more active with punches in this round, but with a tantamount level of success as he achieved in previous rounds. Bailey doing almost nothing except occasionally jabbing and trying to wak Jones down. Jones lands a bit of a right and a few more hooks to the body.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Jones, 89-82 thus far
Round 10: Now the two are starting to clinch more and Baily even appears tired. Jones again chasing Bailey, but not landing anything. And again the boos kick off. The fighters trade light jabs. Jones again holding the head while he punches, but incredibly still isn't landing anything significant. Now Jones is starting to pour it on and appears to have lightly rocked Bailey. And just like that, Bailey floors Jones with a right. He stands back up, but it was a hard shot.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-8 Bailey, 97-92 thus far
Round 11: Jones appears undeterred and goes back to his strategy, but Bailey also appears more into the fight than he has been in previous rounds. Jones backs up Bailey with a few rights midway through the round. Bailey misses with a right and Jones is still chasing Bailey. And out of nowhere, Bailey lands a MONSTER right uppercut. Jones tries to stand and can't. Fight is over.
Randall Bailey def. Mike Jones by KO (referee stoppage) at 2:52 of round 11
Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Teon Kennedy
Round 1: Rigondeaux comes out southpaw and connects with a hard straight left. Kennedy is in serious trouble and gets read a ten count by the referee. He survives and seems to have his wits about him, but the hand speed differential is remarkable. The Cuban looks good early.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-8 Rigondeaux
Round 2: Rigondeaux again takes center of the ring and is counterfighting against Kennedy's more active jab. Kennedy working a little bit further outside and Rigondeaux now fires a left to the body. And another straight left sends Kennedy to the mat. He gets back up and the fight continues. And Kennedy gets knocked down AGAIN. He stands, but the bell stands.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-7 Rigondeaux, 20-15 thus far
Round 3: as the third round starts Kennedy trying to go back to the jab, but then gets caught firing shots in the pocket. Against the ropes Kennedy eats another left and Rigondeaux is stalking now. As soon as I say that he starts to slow down just a tad. Kennedy doing his best to stay active and didn't get tagged nearly as much this round.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 Rigondeaux, 30-24 thus far
Round 4: Kennedy tries to triple jab then fire the right, but Rigondeaux ducks and dodges. Kennedy trying to circle away from the left, but eats a winging right hook for his efforts. And just like that another knockdown from Rigondeaux. This is a clear mismatch.
MMA Fighting scores this round 10-8 Rigondeaux, 40-32 thus far
Round 5: Wow, another hard left from Rigondeaux and now they're brawling. The Cuban lands several more lefts and Kennedy backs up and he's on wobbly legs. That's it. The referee stops the fight.
Guillermo Rigondeaux def. Teon Kennedy by TKO (referee stoppage) at 1:11 of round 5
It's official. Both Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley have weighed in under the welterweight limit are set to go in tomorrow's fight.
Pacquiao was the first to step on the scale of the two boxers. The eight-division champion from the Philippines weighed in at 147 pounds, the limit for a welterweight bout. Bradley, who typically fights at light welterweight, pushed the scales today at 146 pounds. As he typically does, Bradley looked to be in phenomenal shape.
BY Deep Singh Sidhu
Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley: Live Round-by-Round Updates
The main event will start a little after 11:30 p.m. ET. Check out our Pacquiao vs. Bradley results page to find out what happened on the undercard.
Check out the main event live blog below.
Pacquiao vs. Bradley Results: Live Updates of Undercard and Main Event
When the main event begins, around 11:30 p.m. ET, check out our Pacquiao vs. Bradley live blog for live round-by-round updates. Prior to the main event, we'll have live updates and results on all the undercard fights below.
Timothy Bradley defeats Manny Pacquiao via split decision
Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Teon Kennedy
Pacquiao vs. Bradley Weigh-In Results: Both Fighters Make Welterweight Limit