VINDICATION

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The decision of the five independent judges chosen to review and rate the recent fight of the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao and the United States’ Timothy Bradley is very sweet vindication of our country’s boxing idol’s record as the world’s number one pound-for-pound boxer. Disturbed by the international outcry against the blatant injustice done to Pacquiao by the two judges picked for the June 10 bout in Las Vegas, Nevada, by the state athletic commission, the World Boxing Commission early this week, appointed five boxing experts to watch the tapes of the fight and rate it accordingly. Yesterday, the decision of the five judges was announced to international media. All five members of the panel rated Pacquiao as the clear winner, with one of them giving a lopsided score of 118-110. All the rest also gave higher scores to Pacquiao. Interestingly, the five new judges came from different places, one from Puerto Rico, the others from Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The three chosen by Nevada Athletic Commission were all natives of the state. Even if it has been emphasized that the WBO-initiated scoring can no longer affect or change the results of that infamous decision on June 10, sports history will always carry the record that once upon a time, on a sad day in Las Vegas, justice and fairness were cast aside at the MGM Grand arena. But for Manny Pacquiao, who was robbed of his victory and whose record has been marred by it, it is enough that he has been vindicated, and his admirers who had fiercely sprang to his defense now have the consolation that they were right – in fact, that they know more about judging a boxing match than Nevada’s Three – actually, only two – Blind Mice.*