Pacquiao Blames Shoulder Injury

After a unanimous-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather this weekend, Manny Pacquiao has revealed a potential reason for his sub-par performance in the hotly anticipated event: an injury to his right shoulder, obtained during training in April. Pacquiao says he didn’t consider postponing the match because he thought a lidocaine injection would make the pain tolerable, but he was denied the shot due to a miscommunication among fight promoter Top Rank, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and an anti-doping agency. “I’m disappointed,” he told the Los Angeles Times, and said he may seek surgery for the injury. On forms filled out at the weigh-in, however, Pacquiao’s team checked the “no” box for shoulder injuries.