Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Floyd Injury Talk Rubbished, Ronda Rousey Visits Manny

Strength coach Alex Ariza has denied reports Floyd Mayweather Jr. suffered potentially serious injuries in the build-up to his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Ariza, who used to train Pac-Man, played down rumours Mayweather has accumulated lasting damage during sparring and heavy bag sessions, reported by Bev Llorente of ABS-CBN News North America.

"I don't call scraped knuckles...I don't call that an injury," Ariza said. "That's just, sometimes they scrape some knuckles inside those gloves. That sometimes happens, nothing major."

The trainer confirmed there is "nothing broken that would cause any concern or delay of this fight" and dismissed the seriousness of other potential problems Mayweather is said to have faced:

"

I think anybody who has hit a heavy bag or anything, they scrape some skin off the knuckle, and I don't see anything big deal about it.

I didn't hear anything about a rib injury. I think I would know, considering I'm the strengthening coach. We haven't missed any training session. We haven't taken any breaks which are not the regular breaks that we normally take, so nothing is out of the ordinary.

"

John Locher/Associated Press

However, Ariza did confirm Pretty Boy received a bash to the head, something that shouldn't be considered abnormal during preparation for a fight, per Llorente:

"

Unfortunately we see the small head butt. That was not a big deal, but that's what happened in sparring – busted lip, black eyes, bloody noses. But that's typical, because they don't use conventional style protective headgear, they use the old-style. They use smaller gloves, very similar to what a real fight is like.

"

Previously, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum had suggested Mayweather was unable to spar "for a few days" after receiving a cut to his lip, per Ronnie Nathanielsz of Boxing Scene.

Richard Drew/Associated Press

Arum indicated the undefeated boxer was "getting hit a lot by his sparring partners and couldn't spar for a few days because his lip was cut and they had to manufacture a special headgear that also covered his lips because every time Floyd got hit, it bled," per Nathanielsz.

Ariza confirmed both Mayweather and his sparring partners use "open face" headgear, which focuses on defence without the safety of having a bar in place to help take the force away from punches. He confirms Money hasn't missed a training session to date.

Pacquiao's camp continues to be less scrutinised in the press. The Filipino fighter remains the underdog against a foe who is yet to be slayed, so he would be wise to take inspiration from a recent visitor. UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey—who is 11-0 in her MMA career, per ESPN—recently dropped by, according to Pacquiao's social media feed:

Rousey will be ringside when the Vegas bout begins after Arum offered her the only free ticket, reported by Jeff Powell of the MailOnline. Most onlookers would settle for the $99.95 pay-per-view fee to be paid.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, recently told Bleacher Report's Stephen Nelson why his man will take the win:

Mayweather fans will be pleased to hear he isn't suffering from any unnecessary problems, but it's worth noting Ariza is hardly going to admit to injuries even if they existed. Both camps need to promote the impression things are running smoothly and that their fighters are ready for the biggest encounter in their careers.

It's likely both have and will run into minor bumps along the way, but they aren't about to hand out an advantage by admitting such occurrences.