Tim Bradley and Diego Chaves fight to a stunning draw
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Timothy Bradley fought to a stunning 12-round draw against Diego Chaves on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan. It was Bradley's first fight since losing for the first time in his professional career against Manny Pacquiao in April.
It was a surprising decision as many on press row had Bradley dominating the fight, repeatedly landing rights against Chaves, while also eluding most of Chaves' clean blows. After the fight, Bradley said he thought he had won eight rounds.
Julie Lederman scored it 116-112 for Chaves, Burt Clements had it 115-113 for Bradley and Craig Metcalfe had 114-114, a draw.
The Chaves-Bradley decision wasn't the only surprising one of the night.
Jose Benavidez (22-0) won a unanimous decision over Mauriciao Herrera (21-5) to claim his interim WBA super lightweight belt. But fans and media were in an uproar, feeling Herrera clearly won the fight.
Andy Lee (34-1) shocked previously undefeated Matt Korobov (24-1) with a sixth round technical knockout with 1:10 left in the sixth round.
"Julie Lederman should not be judging fights," promoter Bob Arum said to press row after the fight.
Arum thought Bradley handily won eight of the 12 rounds. Arum said he was "fed up" with the judges and felt there were not enough quality judges available for two major fight cards in Las Vegas on the same night.
Golden Boy Promotions also had a card down the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Grand.
Arum was asked if the decision was as bad as when Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in 2012. "It was bad," he said.
But Chaves felt good about the decision.
"I think it was an even fight, but I thought I was superior," Chaves said during the in-ring interview.
The fight had multiple head butts. Bradley's left cheek was badly swollen from some of those head butts and from Chaves' rights to the face.
Bradley (31-1-1) landed 225 punches while Chaves (23-2-1) landed 152 according to the CompuBox statistics, and had a 146-108 advantage in power punches landed.