Pacquiao Announces ‘Official’ Return To the Cage
The sports news world has been buzzing about Manny Pacquiao declaring his return early next year. Pacquiao has become an athlete of conspiracy after the ongoing and changing story concerning his rotator cuff injury. After his questionable match against Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao received surgery to repair the tear in his shoulder. Since then his predicted return dates have fluctuated over the past few months from a hopeful return in 2015, to the current date expected in late February. The main missing piece of the story is how bad Pacquiao’s injury actually is.
Pacquiao has a torn cuff rotator that’s been giving the sports media a headache from the beginning. Many questioned whether or not this shoulder injury was a fluke or excuse for the outcome of the Mayweather fight earlier this year. Pacquiao checked ‘no’ to any shoulder injury on the official Nevada Athletic Comission’s questionnaire before the fight, yet claimed someone leaked the information to Mayweather, who used the injury to his advantage. Then when he dismissed a doctor appointment, and pushed back surgery it seemed nobody in the industry really knew what was going on. Rotator cuff tears can take three to six months depending on the severity, so Pacquiao having so many different return dates leaves no clues on how the fighter’s shoulder is actually healing.
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint that consists of three main bones. The upper arm bone, the shoulder blade and the collarbone all kept together by the rotator cuff. Pacquiao supposedly tore the rotator cuff which id made up of four muscles that work together as tendons to cover the humerus. This allows the arm to rotate and rise, so when this area is damaged the range of motion is significantly reduced and needs constant stability in order to heal. This injury cannot be taken lightly and it seems as if Pacquiao has been treating it as just another scratch.
It appears that Pacquaiao finally has been giving his body the rest it and recovery time it deserves. Since the start the eighth-division world champion’s inconsistency leaves many wondering if he even had an injury at all. Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz stands behind the new return date and treatment of the injury, “It’ll be next year, late February or March,” Koncz said. “We have actually sent videos of Manny’s activities to his doctors in the U.S.” So fans and media just have to take his word for now. Only time will tell whether Pacquiao is truly healing or just hiding some other motive.