By Ronnie Nathanielsz

LAS VEGAS—Eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao made some serious accusations against the Nevada State Athletic Commission a day after he lost a unanimous, 12-round decision against undefeated pound-for-pound No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pacquiao alleged he was disallowed from injecting what were classified as numbing agents in his injured right shoulder even though it had earlier been cleared by the US Anti Doping Agency and was legal.

The Filipino ring icon suffered the tear in his right shoulder in training some three weeks before the fight, forcing him to take a week off from sparring, which trainer Freddie Roach claimed was because he didn’t want him to over-train.

Pacquiao, who normally never complains even if he is robbed of a decision like in his first clash with Timothy Bradley, which he avenged with a dominating performance in a rematch, alleged that the news of his injury had been leaked to the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr., whom he accused of often pulling his arm during the fight.

A review of the fight video appeared to substantiate Pacquiao’s claim, while it also indicated a gross understatement of the unofficial punch stats churned out by CompuBox, which was heavily in favor of Mayweather.

It was clear that after Pacquiao hurt Mayweather with a wicked left straight and a flurry of punches, the shoulder injury recurred, forcing him to effectively fight with one hand.

Claiming he was “sabotaged” by the NSAC on the night of the Fight of the Century, Pacquiao claimed the Nevada commission approved his use of numbing agent injections after his camp submitted a request two weeks before his fight, only to be denied on fight night.

In a conversation with the media at his hotel suite on Sunday (Monday in Manila), Pacquiao revealed he had even gotten rid of his sparring partners early after he suffered a tear in his right rotator cuff during a sparring session.

He said the doctor told him to rest his shoulder for anywhere between 30-40 days, which made him even consider seeking a postponement of the fight.

Pacquiao said he considered postponing the fight, but opted not to after the USADA approved the use of anti-inflammatory injections of drugs that were legal.

“I didn’t want to dismay the fans that it was so close with some three weeks before the fight,” said Pacquiao, who spoke in Filipino to better express his feelings. “We all talked. Freddie, even Buboy who even cried... if I can’t, we talked about it. But if it heals, if it recovers, it’s okay, let’s just not use it in training then on the night of the fight, it will be injected with the numbing agent. It’s not a steroid, but it’s legal here, for numbing. The problem is we were sabotaged.”

Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that aside from the injection, Pacquiao even claimed his supplements and water were prohibited from his dressing room – a first in his career.

In their defense, NSAC Chairman Francisco Aguilar told reporters after the post-fight press conference that they were aware of the request for the injections, but that no injuries were disclosed to them at the weigh in or on the medical questionnaire.

Aguilar admitted his decision to bar Pacquiao from taking the injections, which are reportedly effective for six hours because it was too close to the fight, which was supposed to happen within 90 minutes.

But Pacquiao said he didn’t believe Aguilar and alleged there were media leaks about his injury three weeks before the fight..

A clearly disappointed Pacquiao said: “Someone leaked it from the gym.”

He also said Mayweather himself knew of his injury weeks before the fight and took advantage of that during the fight.

“Did you see when he was pulling my arm? Because he knew. He was pulling it, did you see? Because he knew (about my injury),” Pacquiao said. “I felt like a needle was penetrating my bones. I really needed that shot because if I throw a power hook or power jab, it hurt. We filled it out, but also I’m so disappointed because for the first time in my boxing career, more than 20 years, they held my vitamins, they held my water (from) the dressing room. This is new.”

Pacquiao left Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon, returning  to Los Angeles for another MRI. He said that even if his shoulder requires surgery, it would only sideline him 2 to 3 months.