Pacquiao vs Bradley: Sen. Harry Reid in Favor of Investigation

Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada is in favor of an investigation into last Saturday's Pacquiao vs Bradley fight in Las Vegas, which Bob Arum says he'll bring to the Nevada attorney general:

"[I]f an investigation makes everyone feel better, do the investigation. ... One of my very good friends was one of the judges for this fight. And from all the reports that I've seen by people on the outside who saw the fight, who attempted to be fair and judge the fight, Pacquiao won the fight. Now, I understand how upset everybody is. The person that's handled this better than anyone else is Pacquiao. He has said, 'It's a fight, and I lost.' But he'll fight again."

It's worth noting right away that Pacquiao campaigned for Sen. Reid in 2010, and was given some degree of credit -- how much he deserved depends who you ask -- for Reid winning the election. So the two do have history, and Reid even says he hasn't seen the fight.

Whether he's got much legitimate ground to stand on calling for the investigation to happen is one thing, but he is powerful enough that his support -- which is valid simply because it should be valid, really -- could actually push something to happen.

All of this talk of an investigation does need to be tempered somewhat by the reality that more likely than not, nothing's going to happen, even if they do investigate it. Everyone who is asking for it is even basically saying, "Well, let's see," and nobody's saying what they want to see. Arum says he just wants to know that nothing shady went down, which is about as heavy as Keith Kizer wanting "edification" in a meeting with the judges. Basically, the way I'm reading all of this is, they want to look into it, so that they can say they looked into it.

That makes Reid's, "Well if it makes everyone feel better..." comment about as sincere as it can be. That's really all this is about, but I'm not sure if the masses can be placated in this case, and it's really all about giving the illusion of potential change, or at least that's how I'm going to think until something actually changes. And something needs to change. It's not just this fight. It's a lot of fights, all over the place, many far worse decisions than this one.

Pacquiao vs Bradley Results
Bradley SD-12 Pacquiao | Arce NC-2 Rojas
Bailey TKO-11 Jones | Rigondeaux TKO-5 Kennedy

Post-Fight Fallout
Arum 'Ashamed' of Boxing | Judges Scorecards (Photo)
Full Fight Video Highlights | Manny Wants Rematch in Vegas
Winners and Losers: Manny and Bob Win, Bradley and Marquez Lose