Pacquiao faces possible sanctions, damage suits
Joint statement
On Monday, Top Rank and Pacquiao issued a statement to clarify their position.
The statement said: “During training, Manny Pacquiao suffered a right shoulder injury. Manny went to see world-class doctors, partners in the prestigious Kerlan Jobe Orthopedic Clinic, who performed tests and, in consultation with Manny, his promoter, and his advisors, concluded that with short rest, treatments and close monitoring, Manny could train and, on May 2, step into the ring against Floyd Mayweather.”
The statement added: “Manny’s advisors notified Usada of the shoulder injury and the treatments being proposed by the doctors during training and on fight night. Usada spoke to Manny’s doctors twice, investigated, and confirmed in writing that the proposed treatments, if used, were completely allowed. The medication approved for fight night was a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (Toradol).
“Manny continued to train and his shoulder improved, though not 100 percent. This is boxing, injuries happen, and Manny is a warrior … Manny decided to proceed with the fight anticipating that he could receive his pre-fight treatment. That specific treatment had been approved by Usada at least five days before the fight.”
Information came too late
The statement said that a few hours before he was expected to step in the ring, “the Nevada commission stopped the treatment because it said it was unaware of Manny’s shoulder injury.
“This was disappointing to Team Pacquiao since they had disclosed the injury and treatment to Usada (and) Usada approved the treatments.”
A copy of the questionnaire was posted on Monday on the https://true.ink/boxing/ website where Aguilar confirmed that Pacquiao faced possible sanctions from the state attorney general’s office for filling out a state form incorrectly.
“It’s something we’re looking at, and an issue we’ll be discussing with the attorney general,” said Aguilar. “Boxers are tough, and it’s our job often to protect them from themselves.”
‘We will gather all facts’
The fact that Pacquiao did not disclose his injury until the night of the fight could also lead to possible lawsuits from boxing fans, who felt cheated after paying record sums for either tickets or pay-per-view (PPV).
Aguilar said the state attorney general’s office will look at why Pacquiao checked “no” a day before the fight on a commission questionnaire asking if 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.”
Pacquiao’s promoter put out a statement saying the injury was disclosed to Usada, which approved the use of an anti-inflammatory shot for the fight.
But Usada was only a third party to the fight, charged only with testing the fighters for banned substances in training and the night of the bout.
“We had no medical information, no MRIs, no documents,” said Travis Tygart, who heads Usada. “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.”
Tygart said his agency, which was hired by promoters to oversee drug testing for the bout, was contacted April 7 asking about the use of various substances and whether they were allowed under anti-doping rules. He said there was another call 10 days later asking about using a different substance, again for what the USADA was told was an unspecified shoulder problem.–AP with a report from Roy Luarca in Los Angeles
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