Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley: Judges assigned
By Josh Sanchez
The first time that Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley stepped inside of the ring, it appeared clear that Pacquiao walked away from the bout victorious. However, the judges on hand decided to make a highly controversial decision and scored the bout in favor of Bradley.
Now, Pacquiao and Bradley will square off for a second time April 12 on pay-per view for the WBO welterweight title and the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowed the fighters to have a say on who will be judging the bout.
“What the commission did was give us a whole list of officials that were being considered — judges and referees — and then we circulated it to both camps and we said knock out anybody that you feel may not be suitable,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, via ESPN.com.
“Then we had a phone call with (commission chairman Francisco Aguilar and commissioner Bill Brady last week) and said, ‘Here are the officials that both sides have no objection to,’ and out of that they selected three judges and the referee.”
In their last fight, it was judges C.J. Ross and Duane Ford who scored the bout in favor of Bradley, and neither of them will be involved in the decision this time around.
The three judges chosen for Pacquiao-Bradley II were Glenn Trowbridge of Nevada, Michael Pernick of Florida and John Keane from Great Britain. Neither fighter had any issues with the judges selected by the NSAC.
“Neither camp can complain about the officials selected because these are judges approved by both camps and same with the referee,” Arum said. “I really commend the commission for taking the steps that they did and with all the transparency in this. It’s the fighters who are most affected by this decision and now neither fighter can say anything whatever happens.”
Hopefully, the judges will allow the fighters to determine the winner in the ring this time around and appoint the worthy winner.