It isn’t as farfetched as it seems.
How you personally saw the first six rounds will determine if you believe what Mayweather is saying. All the official judges had it 4 rounds to 2 for Pacquiao. At ringside I had it 4 rounds to 2 for Bradley.
Even if you go by the official judges, if the 7th rd knockdown is ruled a slip or pushed and Bradley wins that round, he is one point down with 5 rounds to go. Once it was ruled a KO, Bradley was down four points with five rounds to go and go off his gameplan.
Once the second and cleaner knockdown happened it was game over from the official judges. What I assume Mayweather saw was Bradley ahead after the first six rounds, then he didn’t think the 7th rd knockdown should have been scored that way. If you look at it from that perspective his assertion it was a draw makes more sense.
Here is what Floyd had to say.
According to a source familiar with the conversation, Mayweather called Bradley’s camp and asked that they delay a routine postfight hospital trip long enough so he could pay Bradley a visit.
Mayweather told Bradley his own scorecard had the fight a draw.
“Go home and watch the replay with the sound off,” Mayweather is said to have told Bradley, indicating he believed the raucously pro-Pacquiao crowd had influenced the judges.
Mayweather said he thought Bradley was winning the what turned out to be a pivotal seventh round until he was ruled the victim of a knockdown when his gloves touched the canvas after a half-punch, half-push by Pacquiao’s left. Instead of possibly winning a 10-9 round, Bradley lost the round 10-8 on all cards and never seemed to recover his momentum after that crucial three-point swing.
Mayweather encouraged Bradley to keep fighting. As long a Bradley isn’t suffering any health issues he would be a tough out for anyone in the welterweight division.
