Last night, fans and industry insiders alike were outraged at the fact that former lightweight champion Brandon Rios was handed a split decision victory over Richard Abril despite the fact that he was seemingly dominated over the course of 12 rounds. Immediately following the bout, reactions of anger and disgust began pouring in to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps the most interesting statement came from undefeated jr. welterweight contender Timothy Bradley, who commented, "Don't worry fans im not blind to what this sport brings, however I am training for the win. In with the new out with the old."
Bradley is currently in training for a June 9th showdown with 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, one of the two biggest names in the sport. No stranger to controversial decisions, Pacquiao himself is coming off of a majority decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez in a fight that many believe Marquez really won. The fact that Brandon Rios, like Pacquiao, is a Top Rank fighter and was somehow awarded the decision against Abril now has many skeptical about Bradley's chances of getting a fair shake on the scorecards. In fact, even Pacquiao's own strength & conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, suggested that the only reason Rios was awarded the victory was because promoter Bob Arum is hoping to match him against Pacquiao in the near future. "Of coures he Won, TR doesnt want to give up that 50K. Bob wants him to fight Pacquiao," Ariza would post on his official Twitter page.
Bradley himself seemed to agree that Abril was clearly robbed of the victory, stating, "Really???!!! are you kidding me, someone tell me why Rios deserved that gift," and telling former champion Kendall Holt that "they robbed Abril and gave it to Rios" and "not a good fight but worst decusion" during a back-and-forth conversation. Nevertheless, he's seems confident that the same thing won't happen should his fight with Pacquiao go the distance. Judging from last night's scoring, however, he might want to make sure his fists are the judges come June 9th if he hopes to pull off the upset.