After the 'fight of the century' between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, Pacquiao is now facing a lawsuit from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) as he was accused of hiding his injury in a pre-fight questionnaire.
According to the NAC, Pacquiao, 36, lied about his shoulder injury. However, the fighter is firm in his stand on the issue. He said that he was transparent with the commission and a treatment plan was arranged between the two parties.
If the famous boxer will be charged with the lawsuit, he will have to pay the penalty for perjury and could be jailed for one to four years. His fine will be as high as $5,000.
As the fight concluded and Mayweather declared undefeated, Pacquiao blames his defeat on the injury. His handler and promoter, Top Rank said in a statement that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) had been informed of the need for an injection that could have numbed the pain but denied it to be done before the fight, reports BBC Sports.
On Monday, an MRI scan revealed he had a torn rotator cuff that needs immediate surgery.
"This was disappointing since Team Pacquiao had disclosed the injury and treatment to Usada, who approved the treatments and Manny had listed the medication on his pre-fight medical form," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Reuters UK reported that the NAC claims that they were only informed of the injury on fight night and they did not have enough time to evaluate if the injection was needed.
"The first I heard of this was at 6:08 (p.m. PT) when he (Pacquiao) arrived in the locker room. 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," commission chairman Francisco Aguilar told reporters during the post-fight news conferences.
On the other hand, Mayweather has agreed for a rematch with Pacquiao after the Filipino boxer's surgery and recovery. But is a rematch still needed?
