Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Bob Arum Claims Injury Controversy Cost Manny Fight

Promoter Bob Arum blames a ruling that denied Manny Pacquiao an anti-inflammatory shot for the boxer's unanimous-decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Arum claims the outcome of the fight would have been different if Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) had been allowed an anti-inflammatory shot for his shoulder in the locker room, per Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press.

"The ruling made tonight affected the outcome of the fight," Arum said.

Pacquiao, 36, injured his shoulder during his training camp for the fight and had been given permission to have anti-inflammatory injections at that time by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, according to Dahlberg. However, the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to let Pacquiao have an injection on the night of the fight.

Dan Roan of BBC revealed the NAC didn't receive the request until 6:30 p.m. PT, and it was too late at that point:

The Filipino, though, had no quarrel with the decision:

Per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, Pacquiao did consider postponing the fight against Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) after suffering a tear in his right shoulder:

Pacquiao's punches lacked their usual power against Mayweather, 38, even allowing for the fact he struggled to land a glove on the winner on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, Rodney Berman, the chief executive officer of Golden Gloves Promotions in South Africa, claims the scores were not an accurate reflection of Pacquiao's performance, per Marc Lewis of Eyewitness News. Two judges scored the fight 116 to 112 in Mayweather's favour, and the other judge had it 118 to 110:

Berman said, "It was very lopsided and it must be justice to Pacquiao to win 118 and it's very clear that he won some rounds clearly."

Listen to Mayweather's views on the fight:

Whether the outcome would have been any different if Pacquiao had been fully fit is debatable, and Mayweather’s father has ruled out a rematch, per Greg Beacham of the AP:

Pacquiao must now recover from the injury, and it is likely to be months before he is ready to fight again.

When he is back to fitness, he will also have to make a decision on where his career goes from here and whether he has anything left to prove.