No one is even talking about the actual fight, now Pacquiao might have some legal problems.
By inaccurately completing a pre-fight medical questionnaire — when Pacquiao’s camp checked the “No” box for a question about whether he had a shoulder injury — the boxer’s inner circle has sparked an investigation by the Nevada authorities, according to sources.
“Disclosure is a big thing for us, and honesty,” Cisco Aguilar, the Nevada Athletic Commissioner chairman told the Daily News Monday. “The commission at some point will have to discuss (Pacquiao’s medical questionnaire). I’ve got to run through the process with the (Nevada) Attorney General (Adam Laxalt). But they do sign that document under the penalty of perjury.”
To make matters worse, Pacquiao and his promoter, Top Rank, released a statement Monday that said his advisors notified the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency — which oversaw drug testing for the fight — of Pacquiao’s right shoulder injury well before the May 2 bout “during training.” The statement also said USADA “confirmed in writing that the proposed treatments, if used, were completely allowed.”
Sources told The News, however, that Pacquiao’s camp never informed USADA of the boxer’s shoulder injury, and that the two calls his camp made to USADA prior to the fight were inquiries into whether certain substances Pacquiao was considering using were prohibited or not.
Pacquiao’s statement also said that the medication “approved for fight night was a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (Toradol).” Aguilar said Pacquiao’s team made a request hours before the fight for a lidocaine shot and anti-inflammatories.
“We go through the weigh-in (May 1), we get to the fight, a little after 6 p.m. (local time), we were made aware Pacquiao potentially had a shoulder injury. Then after we were made aware about the injury, a request came to inject his shoulder with lidocaine and a couple anti-inflammatories,” said Aguilar. “We gathered our doctor, Dr. (Timothy) Trainor, who works with the commission evaluating some of these medical concerns, we got with (Pacquiao’s) two doctors that did his medical exam prior to weigh-in, and we started going through some of these questions as to what does this mean.
Manny might want to consider a new team.