Manny Pacquiao: It's Hard To Fight One Handed

Manny Pacquiao revealed he went into his fight with Floyd Mayweather with an injured shoulder. And his trainer Freddie Roach said they did at one point consider postponing the fight.

Pacquiao was comprehensively beaten on points by Mayweather in Las Vegas, who was too fast, too slick, and too accurate for him. The judges scored it 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 in Mayweather’s favour. Pacquiao had his moments but Mayweather always managed to get out of trouble when he needed to.

In his post-fight press conference however, Pacquiao revealed that he had been troubled by a right shoulder injury in the weeks leading up to the fight,

“Three weeks before my fight I had to skip my training for a couple of days for that reason. We went for an MRI – there is a tear in my right shoulder,” he said. "It's part of the game. I don't want to make alibis or complain or anything ... (but) it's hard to fight one-handed."

Pacquiao’s long-time promoter Bob Arum said: “Apparently, the doctors say it was an old injury. There are four something-or-others (in the shoulder). Two were not operable, two were ok. (NBA star) Kobe Bryant has had the same thing.

"Athletes always fight hurt. 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 re-injured in the game. It happens in football. It happens in any sport."