photo: Stephanie Trapp @TrappFotos

Mere minutes after the fight end reports began to circulate that Manny Pacquiao was fighting with a bad shoulder. Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum, explained it as your shoulder has four parts that help it work and that two of those joints seemed devious for Pacquiao leading into the fight. “…fighters fight injured all the time.” Arum said at the press conference as some reporters questioned why Pacquiao would even fight under these circumstances. The injury apparently happened about a month away from the big fight not allowing Pacquiao to trainer “the way he wanted to” for the last two weeks according to Team Pacquiao.

The fact that the report came out left the fight bitter sweat. Now detractors of Mayweather will always have a built in excuse of Pacquiao being hurt, but even more than that it just felt to convenient and even more unsettling an outcome. Pacquiao was more than likely hurt, but so are most fighters coming into any big fight and more so the fact that Pacquiao is so likable we all wanted it to be true. The thing I began to ponder was if Mayweather had of lost and an injury came out minutes after the fight would he receive the benefit of the doubt, probably not. So why offer this luxury to Manny Pacquiao?

It date backs to a “This American Life” episode, in which a thing called “the good guy discount” is discussed in which inherently good people discuss to clerks at a store if they can get a discount being a good person and what they found out was that more often then not they did. In many ways, we’re giving Manny Pacquiao “the good guy discount” since he is so darn likable and even in defeat it just doesn’t sound like complaining. Is it that English is not his forte or is it that he is the opposite of the brash in your face Mayweather? Nonetheless, Pacquiao seemingly in the past few hours has garnered support from the fact that he was so passionate about his convictions rather than hatred for explaining away his loss so quickly, in a fight Pacquiao still believes he won.

Another thing that came up was at a recent lecture by Tyrone Howard of UCLA.  A point was brought up that I think may have been a factor in this; the U.S. hates an outspoken, angry black man and prefers a docile, dormant black youth as it is not threatening to status quo and doesn’t make people think about racial convictions. Could some of this be a reason for the Mayweather hatred as he embodies an elder statements of that position in life. In contrast Pacquiao is jovial and hard to believe is a professional fighter with some of his antics such as taking a selfie before the bout begins with himself, trainer Freddie Roach and Jimmy Kimmel. Pacquiao is like the harmless non-threatening neighbor whereas Mayweather embodies racial archetypes that the white establishment frowns upon while taking an approach of conservative greedy businessman.

Could it also be that Floyd Mayweather isn’t humble up until this point and that people relate more to Pacquiao for being so candid and honest.  I mean, is Floyd Mayweather the opposite of “the good guy discount” and more so the “bad guy discount”, that discount discredits his accomplishments as well?

In the end, most are left feeling a bit hoodwinked and befuddled as “the fight of the century” didn’t produce a classic boxing match (as most high level fights don’t FYI. The bigger issue though is both men may only have one fight left as we harp on Pacquiao response I think the bigger issue moving forward is who in the current crop of fighters will rise above the rest to garner the national attention of the media.