By Ryan Phillips
After their mega-fight Saturday night, we found out that Manny Pacquiao entered the ring against Floyd Mayweather with a severely torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. While the fact that the Filipino slugger wasn’t 100 percent healthy may not have altered the outcome of the fight, it almost certainly changed how it was contested.
On Wednesday, Dr. Neal ElAttrache informed the public that Pacquiao had undergone successful surgery on the shoulder and that he expected Pacman to make a full recovery, but be out of action for nine months to a year.
ElAttrache claims the surgery went perfectly and Pacquiao did not even have to stay overnight. The famed orthopedic surgeon has previously operated on Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady.
Pacquiao lost a unanimous decision to Mayweather in a fight that has been highly criticized for its lack of action. Pacquiao simply looked like a different fighter all night and didn’t seem to be able to engage consistently with the 38-year-old Mayweather. Other than a sustained flurry in the fourth round, he really didn’t appear to be himself at all.
When the shoulder injury was disclosed after the fight, many shrugged it off as a losing fighter making excuses. But if you look at the numbers, it really seems to have impacted the action. Pacquiao landed only 81 clean punches against Mayweather, but more importantly he only threw 429. Contrast that with his last three fights where he averaged 674 punches per 36 minutes. That’s almost 250 fewer punches.
To be fair, Mayweather’s outstanding defense likely had a serious impact on Pacquiao’s output, but had he been fully healthy there is no way he throws fewer than 600 punches. That doesn’t mean those punches would have landed, but they would have caused more action.
I have gone back and watched the fight four times and it is abundantly clear that Pacquiao was hesitating to throw his right hand after the fourth round. His camp knew Mayweather has been susceptible to well-placed jabs in the past, yet in the second half of the bout Pacquiao threw fewer and fewer. From what I have been told, the injury was excruciating as the night wore on, especially after Pacquiao swung and missed with a few right hooks early.
Like I said, I sincerely doubt the outcome of the fight was impacted, but I do believe there would have been more action had Pacquiao been fully healthy. Luckily, both fighters have expressed interest in a rematch once Pacquiao has healed.
Mayweather will fight the final bout on his Showtime contract in September, while Pacquiao will likely head back to Congress in the Philippines while recovering.
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