Manny Pacquiao is likely to face disciplinary action for failing to disclose a pre-bout shoulder injury.
Filipino Pacquiao lost on a unanimous decision to undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr in a heavily hyped welterweight showdown in Las Vegas on Saturday that is expected to be the top grossing prize fight of all time.
The 36-year-old answered ‘no’ on a pre-fight questionnaire which asked whether he had an injury – but barely an hour after the contest had ended, Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum said his fighter had been hampered by an ‘old’ injury to his right shoulder.
On Monday, an MRI scan in Los Angeles confirmed the boxer has a torn rotator cuff that will require surgery.
“Disclosure is a big thing for us, and honesty,” Francisco Aguilar, the Nevada Athletic Commissioner chairman told the Daily News.
“The commission at some point will have to discuss it [Pacquiao’s questionnaire]. I’ve got to run through the process with the [Nevada] Attorney General [Adam Laxalt]. But they do sign that document under the penalty of perjury.
“We will gather all the facts and follow the circumstances,” he continued. “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.
“The medications he was taking were disclosed on his medical questionnaire, but not the actual injury.
“This isn’t our first fight. 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.”
A guilty verdict could see Pacquiao handed a prison sentence of between one and four years as well as a fine of up to $5,000 (£3,300).
The major problem here is that apparently neither Pacquiao nor his team informed the Nevada Athletic Commission about the shoulder issue until a couple of hours before the start of the fight when they asked for an anti-inflammatory injection.
At that point, it was too late for the commission to investigate whether or not Pacquiao was suffering a genuine injury and there were no MRIs or medical paperwork to support the claim made by the boxer’s team, the commission said.
“The first I heard of this was at 6:08 (p.m. PT) when he (Pacquiao) arrived in the locker room,” Aguilar told reporters during the post-fight news conferences.
“I have no proof of the injury. If he told us on Friday, we would have gotten the MRIs and there are a lot of things we could have done.”