All of a sudden we're left feeling robbed and cheated ... and you should feel that way, too.
Multiple reports surfacing say that Manny Pacquiao hid a shoulder injury heading into his megabout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. It turns out that he actually has a torn rotator cuff on his right shoulder that will require surgery later this week. Anything to cash in on that $120 million fight purse, huh, Manny?
The reported injury would more than explain Pacman's lack of aggression in the middle to late in the bout and being out-punched by Mayweather, 148 to 81, enroute to an easy unanimous decision win for Floyd.
ESPN is reporting that Pacquiao could face a suspension or be fined by the Nevada Athletic Commission now.
The commission's chairman, Francisco Aguilar, told ESPN that Nevada's attorney general's office will investigate why Pacquiao checked "no" Friday on a commission questionnaire asking whether he had a shoulder injury.
"We will gather all the facts and follow the circumstances," Aguilar said. "At some point we will have some discussion. As a licensee of the commission you want to make sure fighters are giving you up-to-date information."
Bob Bennett, the commission's executive director, added: "It's not just the fact he didn't fill out the question completely, it was that he wasn't honest and they didn't tell us a month ago when he had the shoulder injury. They're not obligated to, but two hours before the fight they wanted a shot that's a painkiller, in essence. That put us in a very precarious position."
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is also miffed by Pacquiao and him not reporting his shoulder injury.
"We had no medical information, no MRIs, no documents," Travis Tygart, who heads the USADA, told ESPN as well. "It was not an anti-doping issue. The real question is why his camp checked 'no' on the disclosure. Either they made a terrible mistake to not follow the rules or they were trying not to give information to the other side. I'm not sure there's a middle ground."
Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the same orthopedic surgeon who repaired Kobe Bryant's torn rotator cuff, will operate on Pacquiao's "significant tear" in his rotator cuff later this week. The 36-year-old boxer could miss the next nine months to a year of action due to recovery from the surgery.
If a full investigation reveals Pacquiao hid the injury just to cash in on his ridiculous pay day, should he have to give back part of his earnings? A pay-per-view refund would be nice. Yeah ... like that's going to happen, though. This is going to get interesting.
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