If Manny Pacquiao was injured, he shouldn't have fought Floyd Mayweather

LAS VEGAS — As it turns out, the Fight of the Century wasn’t a fair fight — for Manny Pacquiao or the paying public.
As a matter of fact, it’s a fight that never should have started on Saturday night.
After dropping a unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao revealed that he suffered a right shoulder injury in training roughly a month ago, limiting what he could do in the ring on Saturday.
Promoter Bob Arum said it was the same injury that ended Kobe Bryant's 2014-2015 season, a torn rotator cuff.
Typically a whirlwind of activity, Pacquiao was somewhat passive on Saturday, throwing fewer punches than the defensive-minded Mayweather. Afterward, Pacquiao admitted that he felt an aggravation of the injury in the third round and it affected him thereafter.
It showed as Mayweather cruised to a 118-110, 116-112, 116-112 victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to remain undefeated at 48-0.
How hurt was Pacquiao? He admitted he was in such pain he even considered postponing the fight, but felt compelled to soldier on because of the magnitude of the event.
Pacquiao said he had to interrupt his training camp for two weeks while he rested his shoulder because he couldn't throw his right hand, so the injury affected his preparation.
“In the third round I felt pain in my shoulder,” Pacquiao said. “We didn’t throw a lot of combinations because it hurt. It’s hard to fight one-handed,” he added.
I’m sure it is.
If the injury is as bad as Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum claim, then the fight should have been postponed. The viewers who ponied up $100 to watch on pay-per-view or the A, B and C-listers who forked over big cash to be in the arena in Vegas deserved two healthy fighters. Imagine how the gamblers, who wagered big money on the fight believing it was an even playing field, feel.
It’s a big mess, and it makes you wonder if an unhappy group of consumers eventually band together to pursue action against the fight’s organizers.
Since Pacquiao checked “no” in a form box asking to reveal any injuries on Friday, the state commission wouldn’t let his doctor administer a shot to dull the pain in the hours before the fight.
Commission chairman Francisco Aguilar said his staff wasn’t contacted by Top Rank until 6:08 p.m. Saturday regarding a request for an injection to Pacquiao.
Arum said he submitted a written request to the state commission on Monday to use an injection of three prescription medications, including Lidocaine, an anesthetic, but apparently there was no mention of the injury.
“When you try to screw with the process, it’s not going to work for you,” Aguilar said.
(The pre-fight physical apparently didn’t indicate anything was wrong with Pacquiao.)
Arum defended the decision to carry on with the fight, even though Pacquiao wasn’t 100%.
“Athletes always fight hurt,” he responded. “We felt that the work that was done on the shoulder during training would give him the opportunity to use the right hand. We were disappointed when in the third round the injury kicked up again, but this is always the case with sports. You get guys injured in training. He then deals with the injury, he thinks he’s conquered it, and then he gets reinjured in the game. It happens in football. It happens in any sport.”
But it shouldn’t have marred this fight.
True, delaying the fight would have been a major inconvenience for everyone involved after five years of on-again, off-again negotiations.
But letting Pacquiao fight with a bum shoulder wasn’t the right thing to do.
Just ask anyone who paid to see it.