USA Today: Manny Pacquiao fights doubt amid talk of slippage

By Jon Saraceno

LAS VEGAS — The murmurs, the whispers and the shrugs from his mystified fans continue unabated: What's up with Manny Pacquiao these days?

With diminished ring performances in recent fights, is the little fellow who used to be considered the preeminent pound-for-pound boxer in the world suddenly backsliding toward eventual irrelevancy?

Self-doubt shares a stool in the corner with the 33-year-old Filipino fighter. For three grueling decades he's fought professionally after emerging from the slums of Manila to become an international superstar.

"He asked me and I told him he's not (nearing the end),'' trainer Freddie Roach told USA TODAY Sports. "The thing is, you have to prove you're not.''

Roach has devised an elementary blueprint for victory Saturday night when Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico in a rare-for-the-modern-era fourth confrontation. The Hall of Fame trainer wants the welterweight, who narrowly has claimed two disputed decisions and a draw against Marquez, to engage the sneaky counterpuncher and let his fists fly like the old days.

Pacquiao's last five fights have gone the distance; his last stoppage was Miguel Cotto (TKO 12) in 2009.
Leading to Saturday's bout (HBO pay-per-view, 9 p.m. ET), Roach said he told Pacquiao: "Let's face it: If you don't go out there and knock this guy out, you're not going to win (another decision).''

Among the theories for Pacquiao's perceived slippage:

Weight and see: Exceptional fighters who move up several divisions often hold their own. Eventually, wear and tear on the body and naturally larger opponents take a toll. They are competitive but no longer as dominant.

Pacquiao, a former eight-division champion, has packed on as much as 48 pounds since he turned pro as a 106-pound light-flyweight in 1995.

In recent bouts, Pacquiao claims he has suffered cramping in his legs. Roach told USA TODAY he believes the problem is located in his fighter's head, calling it a "mental issue.''

Nevertheless, in recent fights Pacquiao has fought complacently and flat-footed, failing to vary his rhythm and pace from round to round. "Your legs will go in boxing,'' Roach said. "My legs were gone at 26.''

No trepidation: As he was ascending the weight ladder, and preparing to take on elite foes, Pacquiao engaged in ultra-demanding conditioning programs that emphasized plyometrics (speed and repetition) and isometrics (static stretching).

That' s when he hired strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who devised a far more strenuous workout regimen to build his power.

"When there's a fear factor, it's very easy to get up for an opponent,'' Ariza said. "(Oscar) De La Hoya was bigger and stronger. (Ricky) Hatton was a strong, aggressive puncher. (Miguel) Cotto was at his best (then). (The lack of fear) is where we lost it.''

Pacquiao defeated all three. He hasn't looked the same since.

Distractions: As a fighter, politician, singer, philanthropist, endorser and television personality, Pacquiao "has more on his plate any anyone I've ever seen,'' Roach said.

Distractions often overwhelm the finest of fighters. Eventually, many stop approaching their craft as a full-time vocation. A mega-star, such as Pacquiao, confronts an even greater challenge to remain dedicated. "It's all about time management,'' he said.

The Filipino congressman abandoned his foray into singing, sold his nightclub, halted a cockfighting business and eliminated his once-voracious appetite for gambling, particularly baccarat. "I remember wiring a casino in Australia $500,000 to cover a gambling (debt),'' said Bob Arum, his promoter.

Pacquiao says he now reads the Bible daily. "Some of his vices did catch up with him,'' Roach said. "But champions are a (special) breed.

"Sometimes I think giving up all the bad things was bad for him. Sometimes I want to say, 'Manny, go back to your old ways.'

But his wife would be mad at me.''

USA Today: Federer, Pacquiao, Lebron, Tiger among Esquire's top 50

If you do the math, and Esquire has, Roger Federer is the top athlete in the world.

The magazine has a formula that includes performance (MVP and championships); social media (YouTube and Google hits), money (Google hits for "charity" and listing on Forbes) as well as negatives (Google hits on "scandal") for a list of Who's Who and for some of us a Who's That?

The top 10 on the top 50 list: Federer (tennis), Manny Pacquiao (boxing), LeBron James (basketball), Rafael Nadal (tennis), Tiger Woods (golf), Floyd Mayweather (boxing), Conrad Anker (climbing), Chrissie Wellington (triathlete), Sidney Crosby (hockey) and Trevor Brazile (rodeo).

USA Today: Bradley manager: 'There's nothing corrupt going on'

 By Bob Velin and Drew Schmenner, USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS – Timothy Bradley's manager has what he casts as a simple explanation for anyone who suspects a fix Saturday night when his fighter upset Manny Pacquiao.

"I know Tim's very grateful that he won. He has nothing to do with the decision. There's nothing corrupt going on, and if there was something corrupt going on, Tim wouldn't have won," Cameron Dunkin said Monday. "They didn't want Tim to win. He was the underdog. He wasn't supposed to win, and he won, and the judges saw it that way. They gave him those real close rounds."

A criticism of the split decision continues to resound. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, said Monday he has submitted a formal request to Nevada state attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto for a full and complete inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the scoring of the fight.

Ringside judges CJ Ross and Duane Ford scored it 115-113 for Bradley while Jerry Roth favored Pacquiao by the same score.

Boxing experts across the country were nearly unanimous in saying Pacquiao should have been awarded the fight.

"The public has a right to know. The fighters have a right to know," Arum said Monday. "The only way to restore fans' confidence in boxing is by letting an independent body investigate every detail of the fight no matter how big or small. Sunshine never hurt anyone.

"Unless there's an investigation, it's not good for boxing, it's not good for anyone. We want to get some clarity as to what happened."

Arum said he thinks the attorney general should investigate every facet of the fight, including the Nevada Athletic Commission, the officials, the betting and the promotion (which is Arum's Top Rank). "Maybe it's just bad judging; we just want to know the truth." he said. "I'm not making any accusations."

Jennifer Lopez, public information officer for Masto, said in an email to USA TODAY Sports: "We can't confirm nor deny whether we have an ongoing criminal investigation."

Asked about Arum's call for an investigation, Dunkin basically dismissed the idea.

"That's his business, and there's nothing corrupt going on," he said. "When you have judges, I don't care if it's figure skating, I don't care if it's gymnastics or what it is, it's someone's opinion."

Also Monday, Bradley underwent an MRI to determine the seriousness of foot and ankle injuries he suffered in the fight. Test results were not immediately available.

Contributing: Schmenner writes for the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., and reported from Palm Springs.

USA Today: Reggie Bush says Pacquiao-Bradley decision an 'injustice'

 By Nate Davis, USA TODAY

Add Reggie Bush's name to the chorus of voices who believe Manny Pacquiao was robbed in last weekend's WBO welterweight championship fight, which went to Timothy Bradley in a shocking split decision.

"Pacquiao won that fight hands down," Bush, who attended the bout in Las Vegas, said on NFL Network's NFL Total Access on Monday night. "Not a question."

The Miami Dolphins tailback said he was already headed for the exits with most of the other patrons when the unexpected result came down.

"Nobody thought (otherwise)," said Bush. "Everybody was already leaving, nobody thought to stick around. I was saying bye to people. I already knew in my mind that he had won the fight. And when they announced that Bradley had won, the whole stadium's face just kinda went white. It was kinda like this awkward silence, everybody was kinda stunned. I was stunned. I even stopped walking, I was in mid-stride, stopped walking, turned around and to just double-check, 'Did that really just happen?'

"I just think it's kind of an injustice for Pacquiao. It's sad, and it sucks, but I think everybody knows he won that fight."

USA Today: Bradley-Pacquiao decision leaves boxing reeling

 By Bob Velin, USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS – The outrage over the split-decision upset victory for Timothy Bradley against champion Manny Pacquiao reached a fever pitch Sunday, with many in the boxing world seeking reform in the judging system and promoter Bob Arum calling for an outside investigation.

Arum, the 80-year-old chairman of Top Rank Promotions, represents both fighters.

"This is an international kind of story. There are people all over the world looking to blame somebody for this," he said.

In a decision that sent shock waves through the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Bradley was declared the winner by split decision. Judges CJ Ross and Duane Ford scored it 115-113 for Bradley, while Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao. Ross has limited experience, while Ford and Roth are veterans of big Las Vegas fights.

 The decision resulted in boos raining down toward the ring, where HBO's Max Kellerman was trying to interview Pacquiao and Bradley.

Arum says "The conspiracy theory is that somehow I arranged this to create a rematch, which would give me another big fight until Floyd (Mayweather, who is serving an 87-day jail sentence) is ready to fight."

Arum said he was getting so much heat for this that, "On Monday, we're asking the attorney general of Nevada to conduct an investigation of everybody, to see what the facts are here.

"This is such an incredible situation, something I've never seen in 47 years in boxing, that it requires an investigation. And you can't rely on the (Nevada Athletic Commission) to conduct an investigation, because they'll whitewash it."

The commission's chief executive, Keith Kizer, did not return a phone message Sunday.

Bradley's trainer, Cameron Dunkin, told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday: "I thought it was very close and could've gone either way. And Tim got his hand raised. I certainly don't think it was a travesty, a horrible, worst decision I've ever seen.

"I saw Tim this morning. He doesn't have a scratch on him, he didn't have a bloody nose, cut lip, fat lip, swollen eye. If you get hit by Manny Pacquiao too many times, believe me, you're going to bust up. He looked fresh as can be. Not one mark on him. (Bradley) said, 'I don't judge the fights, I just fight the fights.' I can't believe that (Arum has) gone crazy in this, but he has."

But Arum isn't the only one calling for reform. HBO's Harold Lederman and promoter Lou DiBella also seek change.

Lederman scored it 119-109 for Pacquiao. Lederman said there was no excuse for how judges are picked for Las Vegas fights.

"They've had controversies in Nevada, and it's about time they start bringing in judges from outside for high-profile fights," he told USA TODAY Sports by phone Sunday. "I could have given them 10 judges who would have scored that fight correctly. The Nevada commission, which is the final authority, needs to bring in the three best people they can get from anywhere."

DiBella said it was as likely now to see an indefensible decision as it was to see a fair one.

DiBella has railed on the politics of the sport for years — The ranking organizations that are involved with judging, he says, and the judges belong to ranking organizations.

"The promoters, we pay the judges and the referees. So if we want to put a guy in a much nicer hotel, and buy him a nice dinner, or let him fly his wife in, there's no real safeguards against it. There's no checks and balances on the judges.

"Everyone's so used to a bad decision in boxing, the next day there's a rematch declared and everyone forgets about it."

Arum represents both fighters. He was so angry shortly after the fight, he told reporters that the sport was killing itself.

By Sunday, he had moved beyond anger to despair.

"I'm never going to get over last night," he said. "Look, this was preposterous. And when things are preposterous and involve more than one person, something may very well be wrong.

"I said to Kizer, 'Keith, how could you allow this to happen?' He just shrugged his shoulders."

Arum says he's seen one judge turn in a bad scorecard on occasion, "but three judges screwing up their scorecards is very suspicious."

Bill Caplan, a Hall of Fame publicist who was George Foreman's longtime aide and now works for Golden Boy Promotions, said, "In all the fights I've ever worked and been to, and watched on TV — for major fights, it's the worst decision I've ever seen.

"I have nothing at stake except the reputation of boxing, and that's what makes me so outraged, because it really hurt our sport."

Bradley, who showed up at the postfight press conference in a wheelchair because of what was confirmed Sunday as a fractured foot and a badly swollen ankle, said, "My corner felt like I was winning the fight, I was controlling the action. Manny fought in spurts, regardless of the punch stats. He missed a lot of shots, and a lot of shots everyone thought he was hitting me with. And he wasn't touching me. Look at my face. I'm still pretty clean."

Former boxing trainer John Russell watched the fight on pay-per-view. He was incensed.

"I thought it was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen in my life. . . . I think Bradley won one round but I will give him the benefit of the doubt and give him two. It was that bad.

"You could take anybody in the world who didn't know a damn thing about boxing - never saw a fight in their life - and if you asked them to judge this fight, no one could have said that Pacquiao didn't win."

Even Roger Mayweather, the uncle and trainer of Floyd Mayweather, questioned the decision, in a tweet: "Can't lie i hate Manny but he did beat the (expletive) out of Bradley. But like i said it's no one to blame but Bob Arum."

Arum knows he's a natural scapegoat but swears he had no ulterior motive or any part in the decision. And he's worried about the sport in which he's spent his life.

"When the guys at the (Las Vegas) sportsbooks are talking about not betting on boxing anymore, I take that very, very seriously," he says.

DiBella said he thought Pacquiao did not look very good against Bradley, and gives him no chance to beat Mayweather. "But he won. There was no possible argument in my mind who won that fight."

DiBella said nothing surprises him in the sport anymore.

"Some people are tweeting that Dana White must be laughing and this is a great day for UFC," he said. "No, this is boxing hurting itself. The way boxing's been self-destructive for a long time. It's very clear it's not going to get fixed from the inside.

"It's a cesspool, bro."

Contributing: Michael Hiestand, Jon Saraceno