Floyd Mayweather managed to beat Manny Pacquiao Saturday night in Las Vegas thanks to the unanimous decision from the ringside boxing judges. However, some boxing fans called their judgment into question after the official scorecards were released to the public.
According to Liam Prenderville of The Mirror, Mayweather kept his unbeaten record intact at 48-0, which reinforced his position as the "greatest fighter of his generation." The judges scored the fight 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 in favor of the American boxer.
"However, an administrative error on the scorecard has led to conspiracy theories that Pacquiao should have been victorious," Prenderville wrote. "The official card from the Nevada State Athletic Commission shows the fighter in the red corner ahead, on all three judges' scores - but Mayweather was actually in the blue corner in Las Vegas."
However, Prenderville noted that the official scorecard indicated clearly that "Mayweather won by unanimous decision," which helped reinforce the general consensus of the winner after the fight.
"The name above each corner on the card also reads Mayweather in red, suggesting the conspiracies may well be wide of the mark," Prenderville wrote.
Despite the scorecard conspiracy, the Filipino boxer claimed after the fight that he was the true winner.
"I thought I won the fight. He didn't do anything," Pacquiao said. "He was moving around on the outside, so it's not easy to throw a lot of punches."
Pacquiao later claimed that a shoulder injury he received during pre-fight training may have led to his defeat. According to Prenderville, the Nevada State Commission refused to allow a pain-killing injection for him two hours before the bout.
"Three weeks before the fight, I had to skip training a couple of day because of the injury," Pacquiao said. "I had an MRI scan and there was a tear in my right shoulder."
Regardless of how the controversy plays out, Mayweather told Stephen A. Smith of ESPN via text message that he is open to a rematch after Pacquiao recovers from his shoulder surgery, which is intended to repair a tear in his rotator cuff.
"I will fight him in a year after his surgery," Mayweather wrote via text.
According to ESPN, Pacquiao could be sidelined between nine and 12 months after surgery is completed to fix a "significant tear" in his shoulder. However, Nevada boxing officials indicated that he may also be facing a potential fine or suspension for his failure to disclose the injury.
"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."
According to ESPN, Pacquiao's promoter released a statement on Monday afternoon that the boxer's injury was disclosed to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which later approved an anti-inflammatory shot for the fight. However, Travis Tygart, who heads the USADA, told ESPN that there was "no medical information" made available to them about Pacquiao's injury.
"The real question is why his camp checked 'no' on the disclosure," Tygart said. "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."
