The rhetoric post Mayweather-Pacquiao may prove to be more contentious than the actual fight itself.
While talk of a second bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao has already begun to swirl, it seems Pacquiao may first need to clear up a little legal issue pertaining to a shoulder injury - or, should we say, a pretty big legal issue.
Pacquiao will, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, undergo rotator cuff surgery sometime in the near future, knocking him out of competition for close to a year. A significant blow to Pacquiao and his earning power, sure, but the bigger issue at play here may be the fact that Pacquiao failed to disclose the injury prior to the fight against Mayweather, which, according to boxing's esoteric bylaws, may constitute, as ESPN's sports business reporter Darren Rovell put it, fraud.
"Boxers are legally required to disclose their injures, under threat of perjury," writes Barry Petchesky of DeadSpin.com. "And it's not hard to see why, even setting aside the fighters' health-with tens of millions of dollars wagered on this match, bettors and bookies deserved to know if one of the fighters was coming in with a bum shoulder. (Hiding this injury ultimately benefited those betting Mayweather, who received slightly longer odds than he would have had news of Pacquiao's torn rotator cuff been disclosed. So if you wanted to formulate a conspiracy theory, I'd start there. But it was also in Pacquiao's best interests to hide the injury, let the fight go on instead of postponing it for a year, and get his payday.)"
Pacquiao and trainer Freddy Roach both said during post-fight interviews that Pacquiao had suffered the tear during training a few weeks prior. Pacquaio tried to obtain a Toradol shot - a painkiller used by athletes - prior to the fight, but was denied by the Nevada State Athletics Commission because he had not made them aware of the injury prior.
According to Petchesky, NSCA chairman Francisco Aguilar has asked the state attorney to investigate.
"This isn't our first fight," Aguilar said. "This is our business. There is a process, and when you try to screw with the process, it's not going to work for you."
Check out Pacquiao's pre-fight questionnaire below, obtained by True Boxing. See that box marked "No" next to the question, "Have you had any injuries to your shoulders, elbows, or hands..."
