Did Pacquiao's Mom Hex Timothy Bradley? Manny Takes Welterweight Title in Unanimous Victory (VIDEO)
Did Manny Pacquiao's mom hex Timothy Bradley in the ring Saturday night during their WBO welterweight title fight? That's the question some were asking when they saw the Filipino fighter's mother Dionesia Dapidran-Pacquiao chanting furiously while her son fought to regain his championship belt from Bradley, who defeated him in a controversial split decision in 2012.
The rumors and jokes about Pacquiao's mom hexing Timothy Bradley came immediately during the fight when the fighters were about even. Many TV viewers witnessed her near the front row at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden pointing aggressively with her middle finger while clutching some other items in her left hand. By the time she had finished, Manny had begun to dominate the fight as Bradley slowed down, and Pacquiao eventually won unanimously.
Many users across social media joked that Dapidran-Pacquiao had hexed her son's opponent.
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"The fight was even until Pacquiao's Mom pulled out that voodoo doll ! This should be a no contest #PacquiaoBradley2," Derek Brunson tweeted.
"Pacquiao's mom out there castin spells from Hogwarts," another joked on Vine.
"If we have a swarm of locusts tomorrow, it might be Manny's mom's fault. She's conjuring something over there #PacBradley," Robert Flores of ESPN posted on his Twitter account.
"Manny's mom looking like a witch doctor," another user agreed.
However, there was a rather simple explanation for Pacquiao's mother's behavior: as a devout Catholic, she was praying fervently for her son's victory. The items she held in her hand weren't tools of voodoo, they were a rosary and prayer card. She even hugged Bradley after the fight.
Dionisia Pacquiao has spoken about her faith before, saying that her son's split decision loss to Bradley is because Manny converted from Catholicism to evangelical Protestanism.
"That's what he gets for changing his religion," she said at the time. "He lost because God wanted him to."
As for the boxing win, there was also some strategy gone awry which could have contributed to Bradley's loss. Instead of fighting a smart, concentrated fight, the formerly undefeated WBO welterweight champion decided to knock Pacquiao out with big punches.
"Bradley was swinging for the fences and he tired quickly," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach told USA Today. "I felt like in the second half is when we started to dominate the fight. … We didn't think he would be so aggressive."
