Coach Reveals Mayweather & Pacquiao Had Painkiller Agreement Before 2015 Fight
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao put on the biggest boxing event in history back in 2015.
However, it looks like, if Freddie Roach had anything to say about it, the fight would’ve never happened. Prior to the contest, Pacquiao was dealing with a shoulder injury. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather apparently came to an agreement that each man could use painkillers, as “Money” was having issues with his hands.
Unfortunately, the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) wouldn’t allow Pacquiao to do so because he failed to report his shoulder injury on pre-fight medical documents. Roach told The Dan Patrick he tried to get the fight canceled, but was unsuccessful (via Boxing Scene):
“I didn’t try to stop that fight until I found out that the injury was that bad…. that the injury on his shoulder would need surgery to fix.
“So we were going to go into the fight with a bad shoulder, so we had an agreement that Mayweather could shoot his hands up, which he does
Not Allowed On Fight Night?
Roach then claimed Pacquiao was not allowed to use it on fight night while Mayweather was:
“But on the night of the fight, he was allowed to use it and we weren’t,” Roach said. “Yes, [Mayweather’s camp knew about the shoulder injury]. There was a lot of money at stake. I still feel bad about letting that fight go, but I wasn’t powerful enough to stop that fight from happening.
“There were big promoters and so much money. The payday was tremendous. But I don’t do this just for the money, I do it for the love of the sport. I didn’t think Pacquiao was capable of fighting his best fight one-handed.”
Mayweather would go on to keep his undefeated streak alive, winning the bout via unanimous decision. For the past few years, talk of a rematch has circulated the boxing world, but nothing official has been made just yet.
