Pacman injures eye in Broner fight
LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao’s head trainer has allayed fears that the boxing icon had suffered a detached retina on his left eye during his world title fight against Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand last Saturday.
Pacquiao, who retained his WBA welterweight crown with a unanimous decision, had complained of blurry vision in his left eye the morning after the fight.
But Buboy Fernandez, the Filipino trainer in Pacquiao’s corner, told Filipino reporters that there’s nothing much to worry about.
“Mahapdi lang talaga kapag binubuksan (It felt sore when he opens his eye),” said Fernandez.
“Nasalubong niya ang siko ni Broner. At ginagamitan siya ng gloves sa mata pag nagkakayakapan sila (He got caught by an elbow by Broner, who used his gloves to ward off Manny’s face when they clinch),” he said.
Fernandez said a Filipino doctor based in Los Angeles, Dr. Dario Sunga, who joined Pacquiao’s entourage in Las Vegas, had checked on the fighting senator.
“Manny was advised to rest his eyes for at least three days. It needs total rest,” said Fernandez, who noticed a gash under Pacquiao’s left eye at the end of the fifth round.
Then he reminded the 40-year-old champion to avoid Broner’s elbow or his gloves being used to ward off his face.
“Sinabihan ko siya (I told him that),” said Fernandez.
During the post-fight press conference, Pacquiao wore sunglasses, and repeatedly wiped off his eye with a face towel.
At one point, his conditioning coach, Justin Fortune, seemed to have asked the boxer if there was something wrong, and Pacquiao motioned to his left eye.
The morning after the fight, Pacquiao wore a patch over the troubled eye, and covered it with his sunglasses.
Everybody within the Pacquiao camp is hoping that nothing is more serious than a corneal scratch in his eye.
A detached retina is potentially career-ending in the same manner it affected the distinguished career of Hall-of-Famer Sugar Ray Leonard.