Manny Pacquiao and Dashon Johnson together prior to the Filipino star’s bout vs. Floyd Mayweather (Photo: Facebook)
By Chris Robinson
The night of Saturday, May 2 appeared to be a bit of a humbling one for Manny Pacquiao.
After 12 rounds of action, or lack thereof, the Filipino icon suffered the sixth loss of his professional career, dropping a unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather by scores of 118-110 and 116-112 twice.
Pacquiao wasn’t able to break through Mayweather’s defense and let the fight slip away from him in the late rounds.
After the match, Pacquiao and his team addressed the media inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he cited a tear to his right shoulder weeks before the fight that affected his performance.
While Pacquiao has definitely suffered some backlash for his stance on his most recent setback, those within his camp are backing his story, including one of his sparring partners ahead of the Mayweather fight.
Dashon Johnson, an active junior middleweight gatekeeper as a professional boxer, holds just a 15-19-3 record with 5 knockouts but anyone who has seen him in the ring can attest to his toughness and grit. Johnson also had a brief run as an MMA fighter, compiling a 9-2 record while competing in the UFC his last 2 matches.
Johnson backs Pacquiao’s story and took to his Facebook to share his insight, seen below.
“Tuff fight last night for Manny Pacquiao…I just want to feel everyone in on all the rumors! We were asked not to mention anything to anyone but Yes manny got hurt during this camp with his right shoulder and it was messed up pretty bad! So bad his sparring partners including myself were asked to go home a few weeks out before the actual fight, which means a lot of work he could have put in for this fight was brought to a hault due to the fact that he could not spar really anymore and didn’t wanna mess it up more than he already had, manny no matter what wasn’t going to let his family, fans and friends down by post poning the fight so he was gonna just fight through the pain! I take my hat off to him because even faced with the adversity he had going into this fight, in my mind he had the better action moments in the fight and still tried to engage with a messed up shoulder and still went 12 rounds with the greatest fighter in the world today! No shame at all manny you did what you had to do and you are still the peoples champion also at the end of the day you put your family in a better position and made your country men proud! If everyone knew what I knew you would be loved even more than how you are now! Thank you again for the experience and making me apart of this historic event memories I will cherish forever! No excuses at all being made the injury was real! Hats off to mayweather for another victory in his already luxurious career! GOD bless both fighters and the world appreciates you both! Everyone be blessed-Flyboy”
Stay tuned for more and check below for some PHOTOS from the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com