By: Sean Crose
Everyone has regrets. That’s even true of legendary fighters like Manny Pacquiao. Preparing for a comeback fight against Mario Barrios this summer, Pacquiao has opened up about one of his big regrets in the sport of boxing. “If I could change one thing in my career,” he said, via Seconds Out, ” I’d have asked to postpone my 2015 fight against Floyd Mayweather after hurting my shoulder in training.”
Indeed, Pacquiao harmed his rotary cuff while prepping for his 2015 super fight against Mayweather. Whether Mayweather ultimately won the fight because of Pacquiao’s injury or not, the fact that Pacquiao continued to battle Mayweather after hurting his shoulder has clearly troubled Pacquiao down through the years.
“I thought it was going to be okay and that I’d be feeling better without an operation after suffering that injury two weeks before the fight,” he added, “but my injury worsened after the third round. Pushing for that important fight to happen as scheduled is my biggest regret.”
While Pacquiao remains one of the biggest and most beloved fighters in the past half century, it doesn’t take away the fact that a loss is a loss, despite what reasons or excuses one may give. Still, Pacquiao wishes he had postponed the Mayweather fight until he was in prime physical shape, and that’s understandable. Many would have accused Pacquiao of trying to get out of the fight of course, but Pacquiao thinks in hindsight that a healthier shoulder would have led to a better outcome.
Regardless of how things turned out with Mayweather, there’s no denying of that Pacquiao continued to draw in eyeballs and attention until his final fight, which was a loss to Yordenis Ugas a few years back. Now, however, he’s coming back like so many greats have tried to come back in the past. While George Foreman proved to be the exception to the rule, most returning greats do not perform well after being away from the ring for a while. And Pacquiao is now closer to 50 than he is to 40.
Mayweather too has had a hard time, it seems, adjusting to life outside of the ring…if by a hard time one means making a lot of money in exhibition bouts. There just seems to be something about the sport that has an endless allure to those who have mastered it. What some find worrisome is the fact that after a certain age a fighter can be severely hurt. That’s not an opinion, but a fact. Should Pacquiao get hurt in his comeback bout this summer, his injury leading up to the Mayweather fight may seem like something rather inconsequential.
