Beaten Pacquiao says he was hampered by shoulder injury

Manny Pacquiao says a shoulder injury hampered his bid to hand Floyd Mayweather his first defeat as a professional on Saturday as the American improved his record to 48-0 with a unanimous decision. Pacquiao, a 2-1 underdog going into the welterweight bout billed as the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, suffered the injury during a sparring session, according to his trainer Freddie Roach. Roach said the injury occurred after Pacquiao collided with another fighter during sparring and their arms got entangled.

In the third round, I felt pain in the shoulder. We didn’t throw a lot of combinations because it hurt. The thing is, what we wanted to do we could not do because of my (right) shoulder.

Eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao

An MRI exam revealed a tear in the Filipino southpaw’s right shoulder, though Roach said the boxer had since made good progress and he felt that he could still compete in the ring. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum challenged reporters to review the film and “see how infrequently he threw the right". While Mayweather landed 148-of-435 punches during the 12-round four-title unification bout, Pacquiao connected with just 81-of-429 as his all-out, attacking style was neutralised by the American’s brilliant defence.

I was very surprised at the score. I had no problem handling his power. I thought I was up in the fight, so that’s why I didn’t attack harder in the 11th and 12th rounds.

Pacquiao

Sports MayPac