Fans in favor of rematch for Pacquiao-Bradley

Reuters

Despite — or perhaps because of — the uproar over the controversial result of their first match, Filipino fans are in favor of a rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, who won a dubious split decision Sunday.

In a poll on InterAKTV, as of 6 p.m. on Monday, more than half of the respondents, 50.94%, voted that Pacquiao’s next move should be to try to avenge his loss to the undefeated American.

Some 26.36% of respondents said that the Sarangani congressman should just retire, while 20.5% said he should pursue a fight against incarcerated rival Floyd Mayweather. Only 2.19% voted that he should fight someone else.

Pacquiao and Bradley have already expressed their desire for a rematch, with both men believing that they won the first fight fare and square.

“I want a re-match,” Pacquiao said earlier.

“That makes me become a warrior in the ring, this coming re-match, because in the re-match my thinking is I don’t want to finish the whole 12 rounds.”

But Top Rank head Bob Arum, who promotes both men, has put the breaks on rematch talks, saying that he wants an investigation into the judges who awarded the fight to Bradley. The veteran promoter had earlier expressed his disgust over the decision, believing the Filipino fighter had won.

“I want to investigate whether there was any undue influence, whether the (Nevada Athletic Commission) gave any particular instruction and how they came to this conclusion,” Arum told Yahoo! Sports a day after the fight. “But the whole sport is in an uproar. People are going crazy.”

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