Bob Arum (left), Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach (right) failed to disclose Pac Man's injury
The Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight was short on action and drama. Mayweather walked away with a 12-round unanimous decision victory. Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum blame the loss on the Filipino fighter's injured right shoulder.
Athletes and fighters routinely compete with injuries, but Pacquiao fought with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. An injury that severe had it been revealed beforehand would probably have caused the fight to be postponed.
On the official questionnaire (above) filled out before the fight, Pacquiao's camp failed to reveal his shoulder injury.
Michael Koncz, one of Pacquiao's advisers says he made an honest mistake when filling out the form and in no way was trying to hide the injury.
In a statement to the New York Times, Koncz said, "Number one, Manny didn't check the box," Koncz said. "I checked it. It was just an inadvertent mistake. If I was trying to hide anything, would I have listed all the medications on the sheet that he intended to use? We weren't trying to hide anything. I just don't think I read the questionnaire correctly."
Team Pac Man claims the Nevada Athletic Commission was aware of the injury beforehand, but there is no proof of that.
Which leads us to a class action lawsuit that has been filed against Pacquiao, Arum, Koncz, Todd Duboef and Top Rank Inc.
TMZ reports that Stephane Vanel and Kami Rahbaran are suing on behalf of fans who were cheated because Pacquiao's injury was not revealed prior to the fight.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Nevada, Vanel and Rahbaran claim that what went down on Saturday, May 2, was nothing short of consumer fraud.
They say the suit was filed "on behalf of all persons who purchased tickets; purchased the pay-per-view event; or who wagered money on the event."
Vanel and Rahbaran are seeking at least $5 million in damages.
No comments:
Post a Comment