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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowManny Pacquiao went into the richest match in boxing history without telling fans and gamblers he had a bum shoulder. Now he faces a fight in court.
Two Nevada residents sued the boxer and a fight promoter saying everyone who bought a ticket, paid as much as $99.95 to watch it on television or bet on Pacquiao’s bout with Floyd Mayweather was ripped off. The two residents seek to represent all ticket and pay-per-view buyers and bettors who they say were cheated because the promoters concealed Pacquiao’s injury.
Pacquiao, 36, was set to receive about 40 percent of the $300 million that the fight was expected to generate in revenue. He lost the fight in a 12-round decision and later revealed he suffered a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder during training.
Pacquiao and Top Rank Inc., one of the promoters of the “Fight of the Century,” had a duty to disclose the injury to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and failed to do so until shortly before the start of the match, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Las Vegas federal court.
Top Rank said in a statement posted on its website Monday that Pacquiao’s advisers had notified the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of the injury and got its approval for him to use Toradol, a non-steroid, anti-inflammatory as treatment.
The Nevada Commission stopped the treatment shortly before the fight because, according to Top Rank’s statement, it was unaware of the injury. Pacquiao went ahead with the fight even though his shoulder wasn’t “perfect,” according to the promoter’s statement.
“The case is frivolous and we expect it to be dismissed in due course,” Dan Petrocelli, a lawyer for Las Vegas-based Top Rank, said in a phone interview.
Pacquiao has shoulder surgery scheduled for this week, ESPN reported Monday.
The case is Vanel v. Pacquiao, 15-00842, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada in Las Vegas.
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