Nevada Athletics Commission corrects viral scorecards of Pacquiao vs. Mayweather
by PSR News Bureau
The Nevada Athletic Commission corrected the viral image of the scorecards during the mega-bout of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May 2, Saturday (Sunday, Philippine time). The viral image which shows that Manny Pacquiao who was fighting in the red corner having won the fight against the blue corner of Mayweather.
Netizen and ESPN sportsman Chris Cooke first posted on his Facebook account an image showing that Manny Pacquiao dominating Floyd Mayweather in terms of scoring per round, winning the fight on all three scorecards from the judges.
The Nevada Athletic Commission sent a corrected version of the scorecards to one of the country’s most popular website Rappler on Monday to deny the claim that Manny Pacquiao won the fight. Aside from the corrected scorecards, an official tally explaining why the same handwriting for each judge’s scorecard is the same was also presented.
The theory is based on the images of the official score card. Judges Glenn Feldman, Burt Clements and Dave Moretti—designated ‘white,’ ‘blue,’ and ‘pink,’ respectively—wrote their scored down for each boxer. The scores for each round seemingly fall under the correct name of each boxer, but the colors of the corners do not—Mayweather was actually in the blue corner while Pacquiao was in the red corner. If the win went to the person who was actually fighting in the red corner, Pacquiao should have been announced the winner.
It is very unlikely to be anything more than human error but conspiracy theorists will allege there was something sinister at hand, though there is no evidence of any intentional wrongdoing on the part of the judges. Former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield was among those questioning the judges’ decision, saying ‘I thought Pacquiao won a poor fight.’
Mayweather was declared the winner by all three judges, with two cards having the Grand Rapids, Michigan native 116-112 and a third scoring the bout 118-110 in his favor.
So either the judges didn’t score by the corner’s actual colors, or they may have just made one of the most egregious errors the boxing world has ever seen by announcing the wrong winner.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission sent a statement that the official corrected scorecard for the fight showing the judges simply mixed up each fighter’s corner color, debunking the conspiracy theory that the result was due to a scoring mismatch.
Former boxing champ Muhammad Ali reportedly posted on his Facebook account: “Mayweather could defeat ten more ‘Manny Pacquiaos’ but will never be remembered the way ‘Pacman’ will be, as a true fighter. ‘Money’ stands for nothing. He may be undefeated, but he is not a champion. Manny is and always will be.”
Pacquiao said in an interview, “At least to the people, I was the winner.” And he truly is—Pacquiao is reportedly set to donate half of his winnings from the fight to charity.
