After admitting Manny Pacquiao was cheated in 2012 Timothy Bradley bout, Teddy Atlas changes tune
Trainer and respected boxing analyst Teddy Atlas was one of the outspoken experts who criticised the controversial victory by Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao in 2012.
About three years later, with Atlas now working on Bradley’s corner, the trainer appears to have forgotten his original take on the fight. He is now singing a very different tune months before the third fight between Pacquiao and Bradley.
As noted first by Tony Deebs of boxingbuzz.sportsblog.com, the change is expected since Atlas is now Bradley’s trainer and he would want to sell the fight to the public, which was initially icy to the third meeting between the two boxers.
This was Atlas post-fight in the Pacquiao-Bradley 1 in 2012 when Bradley won a controversial split decision over the Filipino via scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 115-113: "Unfortunately, the scorers of fights are incompetent. Sometimes they're more than incompetent. Sometimes they're corrupt. (Boxing) doesn't have a national commission, like other sports do. Doesn't have a police body, like other sports have. And therefore you get this kind of situation,” Atlas said in 2012 via mmamania.com.
Atlas also alluded to the fact that the controversial win may have happened because of Pacquiao’s expiring contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions that year.
“Pacquiao won that fight. Only one man won that fight. And, you know, he doesn't get the decision. It's an injustice to the sport, injustice to the fighters, injustice to the fanbase. It's one of the fallacies. It's one of the problems with the sport of boxing right now is that the wrong guy wins sometimes."
Three years later, Atlas is singing a different tune in an interview with boxingscene.com.
“When I looked at the film, I don’t think there should be [a] backlash. Because when I looked at it again, the first fight, I had Timmy winning six rounds. That’s a draw. That’s a draw in my book. I had him winning six rounds,” Atlas said then.
Atlas also made excuses for Bradley in their rematch in 2014 when Pacquiao won via unanimous decision with scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112, saying that the American was injured with a torn calf muscle.
Pacquiao and Bradley are set to fight April 9, 2016 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
