The two veteran judges at the center of a controversial split decision for Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao in a welterweight title bout Saturday night have defended themselves, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal they stand by their work.

"I thought Bradley gave Pacquiao a boxing lesson," Duane Ford said, according to the newspaper. "I thought a lot of the rounds were close. Pacquiao missed a lot of punches and I thought he was throwing wildly."

Bradley came on strong in the later rounds, winning five of the last six on two scorecards and four on the third. He won 115-113 on the scorecards of Ford and C.J. Ross, while losing on Jerry Roth's by the same margin.