MANILA, Philippines — Even with the convincing victory over Timothy Bradley, Manny Pacquiao didn’t go home unscathed.
Pacquiao sustained a cut above his left eye from an accidental head-butt by Bradley in the final round of their World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight on Sunday (Manila time).
Fortunately for the Filipino boxing champion, the gash hardly mattered during the fight with just over 10 seconds left, but Pacquiao still needed 32 stitches for his nasty 2.5×1 centimeter-wide incision.
Pacquiao had his eye attended to shortly after the fight and was nearly an hour late to the presser.
“The incision wasn’t just a clean cut, it had a star shape to it. It took multiple layers to close,” said the doctor who faced the media before Pacquiao stepped to the dais.
“In the inside, stitches were dissolvable, there was about 15 of those, in the outside the sutures are not dissolvable. They’ll come out about a week.”
Pacquiao reclaimed the WBO welterweight crown from Bradley via unanimous decision, 116-112, 116-112, 118-110.
RELATED STORIES
Pacquiao wins unanimous decision vs Bradley to reclaim WBO title
Bradley, Pacquiao look for decisive win in rematch