Hopefully Manny?s injured shoulder was not irreparably damaged, but his reputation may well have been?
?The check may have been cashed, but Pacquiao?s reputation, like his shoulder, is tattered.??Gulf News (May 9)
?I thought I won the fight.??Manny Paquiao
?Huh. You did???Max Kellerman
Hopefully Manny?s injured shoulder was not irreparably damaged, but his reputation may well have been. Revealing his injury after losing the fight speaks volumes.
Now, as Pacquiao recovers from the surgery, the criticism as to why he chose to fight Floyd Mayweather despite carrying an injury continues to mount?almost as fast as the amount of money he will make from this event. In this connection, Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports estimates the ?Fight of the Century? will reap from 5.6 million to 6.43 million pay-per-view buys. Also, additional revenue streams bringing money in for the fight will boost Mayweather?s paycheck to $250 million to $275 million. That?s a quarter of a billion dollars. Pacquiao could make an incredible $170M to $190M. No wonder he took a selfie during the walk-in to commemorate the event.
The fact that Manny chose to reveal details of his impediment after collecting at least $120 million suggests that the cash was simply too much to pass up, but blaming Manny is not enough as there are several others on his team who must assume responsibility as well for colluding in this travesty. Their silence was likely based on the fact that they were waiting for their dollars to trickle down after the father cash cow had cashed his check.
The future
?Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I changed my mind. At this particular time, no, because he?s a sore loser and he?s a coward? If you lost, accept the loss and say, ?Mayweather, you were the better fighter.???Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Manny may never redeem himself; he just might retire and be the politician he wants to be. However, my guess is that he will engage in an easy confidence-builder type-fight?maybe against someone like Jesse Vargas?once his injured shoulder heals in about nine months and then, and only then, will he be faced with the BIG decision.
Any of the young and hungry Turks that Floyd seems to want to avoid like Brook, Thurman, or Khan offer a reasonable degree of redemption, but also present an equally reasonable likelihood of defeat. If redemption is the goal, Pac-Man can double down by fighting Juan Manuel Marquez for fifth time. And if he beats him, sweet redemption could be the reward.
