Pacquiao VS Bradley's Fight Result, a Big Question?

The boxing world was stunned at the sight of Timothy Bradley walking out of the ring with an unearned victory against Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night. It was a black eye for the sport that may never be erased.

Here is the official scorecard, courtesy of SI.com.

Finishes like these have everlasting consequences for the sport and now boxing will surely have to deal with the backlash that comes with a decision that stinks of corruption.

Here is how boxing will be hurt by this controversial fight.

Illegitimate Champion

Bradley might have won the welterweight crown, but it means next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Everyone knows Pac-Man won the fight and should still have Bradley's belt around his waist.

Nobody will take the new champ seriously as a result of this ridiculous decision. The only way Desert Storm could've regained the respect he lost was to physically win the rematch between the two.

According to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, promoter Bob Arum doesn't feel a rematch would garner enough of a reaction to make it worthwhile.

Bottom line: Nobody will watch it.

If that turns out to be the case, Bradley will truly have no shot at earning his title. Bradley will forever be marred by the outcome of this fight and will have a tough time going around convincing people he is truly at the top of his sport.

It's not only about winning in some instances. Fighters earn respect by how they win and Bradley certainly didn't do that. The judges who scored the fight in favor of Desert Storm helped destroy the credibility of the welterweight champion

 Diminished Fanbase

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
As if boxing didn't have this issue already with past questionable decisions, the Pacquiao versus Bradley debacle only added to it.

It's getting hard to watch boxing as it is with a non-existent heavyweight division and great boxers being few and far between. Now the sport has to be concerned about rogue judges who might be helping fix the outcome of matches with their scoring.

How on Earth can boxing fans trust that any fight will be judged fairly? How can they be so sure there won't be ulterior motives behind the scenes that hand undeserving fighters wins, and even worse, titles?

That's easy. Fans can't be assured of any of that. All they can do is hope the fix isn't in for any particular match, but that glimmer of hope won't be enough to keep people interested in boxing as a whole.

Less interest means less fans and that spells disaster for the future of boxing.

More Meaningless Fights

Does anyone really want to see Bradley versus Pacquiao again? Nope.

How about Bradley versus Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Didn't think so.

But you know boxing will try and shove one, or if they can, both of these fights down our throats. They can try all they like, but forcing an undesirable fight won't help them sell the pay-per-view.

Who should Bradley fight next?
Money May
Pac-Man
Other
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Fans are interested in one fight and one fight only. Nothing else matters at this point and this latest crooked decision only ups the desire around the sport for this dream fight to take place.

Any other match that doesn't involve both Pac-Man and Money May is totally meaningless. Been there, done that, and it's time to give the people what they want.

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