Manny Pacquiao Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of two Las Vegas residents seeking more than $5 million from Manny Pacquiao, his manager and his promoters for fraudulently concealing his injury before his fight against Floyd Mayweather. 

 

 The suit alleges that Pacquiao and his manager Michael Koncz, his promotional company Top Rank, its chairman Bob Arum and its president Todd duBoef, admitted that they knew of his shoulder injury after the fight, but failed to disclose it to the Nevada Athletic Commission as required by law. They also kept it a secret from fans who bought tickets to the fight, purchased the fight on pay-per-view and bet on the fight.

"Defendants prior to and at the time the plaintiffs and the class decided to purchase tickets; purchase pay per view showings or wagered on the event the defendants knew and had full knowledge and information that defendant Pacquiao had been seriously injured and was suffering from a torn rotator cuff," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants further know that such injury would severely affect his performance."

It is estimated that pay-per-view revenues could top $300 million, and wagers in the state of Nevada alone on the fight could surpass $60 million. Ticket revenues from the fight were expected to generate $72 million, though only roughly 500 tickets were sold to the public.

Although Saturday's fight lasted the full 12 rounds, with Mayweather winning by a unanimous decision, the question is whether the fight -- advertised as "The Fight of the Century" -- was properly promoted or whether it was a fair contest from the start. The plaintiffs argue that it was not and violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

"The allegations in this lawsuit are demonstrably false," said attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who represents Top Rank. "There are documents that explicitly show the medications that Manny was using to treat his shoulder and it was fully disclosed with USADA, which we contracted for this fight."

Petrocelli said that Pacquiao was examined by doctors before the fight and was proved to be physically able, but re-injured his shoulder during the bout. That the public was unaware of Pacquiao's original injury is immaterial, Petrocelli said.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit and we are confident it will be dismissed," he said.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Brandon McDonald, said he did not have a further comment on the suit.

During an interview on the Rich Eisen Show, HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley said he feels "terrible" for people who bought the pay-per-view, and said it wasn't fair to the public for Pacquiao to hide his injury.

"I feel terrible [for those] who spent four figures on a ticket, I feel bad for people who spent 89, 90, 100 dollars on pay-per-view who were not given proper information in advance on what it was they were seeing," he said. "I think there may be a constituency of people who think it's in some way noble and brave for Pacquiao to go ahead and enter the ring with an injury and try to perform, but I think that the only way that would wash is if the public had known in advance, and to have gone ahead with the enterprise when one of the fighters turns out to be damaged goods."

News of the class-action filing comes a day after Nevada Athletic Chairman Francisco Aguilar said that the attorney general's office would look into why Pacquiao checked "no" on a form asking whether he had a shoulder injury one day before the fight. Pacquiao could face a fine or suspension for not answering the question accurately.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrachesaid on Monday that Pacquiao will undergo surgery to repair a rotator cuff tear that could put him out of action for at least nine months.

Floyd Mayweather said in a text Tuesday that he would be open to a rematch after Manny Pacquiao recovers from shoulder surgery to repair a tear in his rotator cuff  in the richest fight ever.

The 38-year-old Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) has one fight remaining on his Showtime contract and has stated several times that he intends to retire after a final fight in September, although he admitted during Saturday's postfight news conference that he is "human" and occasionally contradicts himself.

And when asked about his desire to move past legendary former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano -- who achieved a 49-0 record with 43 KOs, Mayweather said he didn't get into the sport to "outdo" anyone. He also casually mentioned Monday he would vacate the world titles he currently holds.

The MGM has plans to open a new MGM Grand Arena in April 2016, which just happens to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Marciano's retirement.

But surgery may not be the only hurdle for Pacquiao, who could face a possible fine or suspension from Nevada boxing officials for failing to disclose his shoulder injury on a form prior to Friday's weigh-in.

"It's not just the fact he didn't fill out the question completely, it was that he wasn't honest and they didn't tell us a month ago when he had the shoulder injury," Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett said. "They're not obligated to, but two hours before the fight they wanted a shot that's a painkiller, in essence. 

That put us in a very precarious position."

Said commission chairman Francisco Aguilar: "We will gather all the facts and follow the circumstances. At some point we will have some discussion. As a licensee of the commission you want to make sure fighters are giving you up-to-date information."

Pacquiao's promoter put out a statement on behalf of the fighter late Monday afternoon saying that the injury was disclosed to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which approved the use of an anti-inflammatory shot for the fight. But USADA was only a third party to the fight, charged only with testing the fighters for banned substances in training and the night of the bout.

"We had no medical information, no MRIs, no documents," said Travis Tygart, who heads the USADA. "It was not an anti-doping issue. The real question is why his camp checked 'no' on the disclosure. Either they made a terrible mistake to not follow the rules or they were trying not to give information to the other side. I'm not sure there's a middle ground."

Tygart said his agency, which was hired by promoters to oversee drug testing for the bout, was contacted April 7 asking about the use of various substances and whether they were allowed under anti-doping rules. He said there was another call 10 days later asking about using a different substance, again for what the USADA was told was an unspecified shoulder problem.

A little more than two hours before the fight, Pacquiao's corner asked Nevada regulators whether he could be given a shot of Toradol, an anti-inflammatory. Aguilar denied it, saying the commission had no previous indication that there was an injury and could not allow a shot in fairness to the Mayweather camp.

"Our job is to protect the health and safety of fighters and the integrity of the sport," Aguilar said. "We expect our fighters to be forthright."