Ex-boxing judge Ross has support from Tim Bradley

The calls for Nevada boxing judge C.J. Ross to vacate her ringside position for good following her Sept. 14 scoring of Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as a draw were intense.

Ross did indeed step aside days later.

Guess who thinks that was a mistake?

Timothy Bradley.

Bradley, the Palm Springs’ world welterweight champion preparing for an Oct. 12 HBO pay-per-view title defense against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas, told The Times during a Thursday training session in Indio that Ross “should’ve never resigned.”

Ross was a crucial advocate in Bradley’s stunning June 2012 split-decision victory over Manny Pacquiao. Ross and fellow judge Duane Ford scored that bout 115-113 for Bradley, while Jerry Roth had it 115-113 for Pacquiao.

That outcome was greeted with similar outrage, as many ringside saw Pacquiao dominate a hobbled Bradley and cruise to an apparent victory with cautious later rounds.

“In the Mayweather fight, I thought Mayweather clearly won the fight … but I could just see where a lot of rounds where Mayweather was on the defensive and ‘Canelo’ was landing shots,” Bradley said.

“It was her judgment, you know, and I think it’s [ridiculous]…. She shouldn’t have resigned over it. She knows what she’s doing. She’s seen a lot of fights. This wasn’t her first rodeo.”

Bradley said the different ways judges view and score fights should be respected, noting the outrage that followed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s decision over Brian Vera on Saturday night at StubHub Center in Carson.

“It doesn’t mean you have a bad judge if the judge scored Chavez more for landing the bigger punches,” Bradley said. “I thought Vera won by doing more, but that’s the way it went.”

The head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission said after Ross’ work in Mayweather-Alvarez, he wanted to review how judges are selected for fights.

For Bradley-Marquez, for instance, representatives from each fighter and promoter Top Rank had a voice before Robert Hoyle, Patricia Morse Jarman and Glenn Feldman were selected to judge the fight at Thomas and Mack Center.

Still, Bradley praised Ross’ credentials, using his fight against Pacquiao as evidence.

“Pacquiao only fought 30 seconds of every round and he missed a lot of shots while I landed mine – my face was clear, unmarked, after that fight,” Bradley said. “The punch stats said Pacquiao hit me more than he hit” Antonio Margarito. “No way.”

Margarito was so beaten up in Dallas he required an extended stay on a stretcher after the bout and suffered a detached retina.

“They railroaded Ross,” Bradley said. “They forced her out.”

Bradley trainer Joel Diaz said he crossed paths with Ford at a later fight and said the judge told him, “I’m going to take that” Bradley-Pacquiao “fight to my grave, but Timothy won that fight. I judged that fight correctly.”

Diaz said Ford told him, “It’s the politics of the sport that forces you to quit.”

Of Ross, Diaz said, “If she stayed in, she’d get attacked every single day for the rest of her career.”

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Lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire