Arum says Pacquiao has full range of motion in surgically repaired shoulder

By Boxing News - 02/06/2016 - Comments

arum5By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is excited about his fighter Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) after he was recently given clearance from his surgeon for him to start training for his April 9 fight against WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) for their fight on HBO pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The surgeon checked out Pacquiao’s surgically repaired right shoulder and have given him the green light to start training. This is the same shoulder that Pacquiao suffered a torn rotator cuff during or before his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May. Arum is pleased about Pacquiao being ready to go for this fight, and he feels that the boxing fans are going to see a great Pacquiao.

I’m not sure if that’s going to be the case though, because Pacquiao hadn’t looked great in many years. The last time Pacquiao looked really good was in 2009 in his fight against Miguel Cotto. Since that fight, Pacquiao has performed in a so-so fashion. The fights where Pacquiao has shined were in mismatches against a faded Shane Mosley, and mediocre fighters Chris Algieri and Brandon Rios.

“He [Pacquiao] has full range of motion,” Arum said to Thaboxingvoice. “You’re going to see a really great Manny Pacquiao on April 9. I’ve got to give Teddy [Atlas] credit for teaching so well. Secondly, I’ve got to give Timmy credit because usually an athlete that’s long in his career doesn’t make adjustments to a new coach. Timothy has taken those adjustments to heart. He’s put them into his repertoire and has become a much better fighter. I’ll promote Timothy for what he is, a decent young man who has great talent and skill. There’s nothing wrong with him being decent. He doesn’t have to be a trash talker or anything like that for people to flock to him,” said Arum.

Arum says Pacquiao has full range of motion, but I think I will wait to see for myself before I buy into what Arum says about the health of Pacquiao’s shoulder. If I see Pacquiao out there throwing only left hands against Bradley on April 9, then I will have to assume that Pacquiao did not have full range of motion and that his surgically repaired right shoulder is not the same.

A torn rotator cuff is a very, very serious injury for an athlete. Many fighters have a hard time coming back from an injury like that. Pacquiao is coming back without a tune-up fight, which I think is crazy. I would not be surprised if Pacquiao is only capable of partial range of motion in his surgically repaired shoulder, and with only a portion of the punching power that he had before the injury.

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If Pacquiao is fighting with just one arm again like he used to, then it’s going to be difficult for him to win the fight. I guess it does not matter if Pacquiao wins. He’s getting his guaranteed $20 million plus a percentage of the pay-per-view money.

If Pacquiao’s surgically repaired right shoulder isn’t at full strength for this fight, then I see Bradley winning and winning easily.



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