The almighty dollar flexes its muscles in Pacquiao camp

The question was by far the week’s best. Heck, maybe the best over six years of those in the media trying to discover new and compelling storylines to what might occur if Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao ever met inside a ring.

Tim Graham of the Buffalo News asked it of Top Rank chairman Bob Arum late Saturday.

It went something like this: How unfair was it for fans to spend a $99 pay-per-view ransom when you knowingly sent an injured fighter into the ring?

Arum did his absolute best not to answer, talking around it like an unfaithful spouse might when confronted with racy texts.

The microphone was then taken from Graham and no follow-up question was allowed.

How typical of those running the news conference.

Money. That’s the answer. It is the one component that most defined the entire saga that was Mayweather against Pacquiao, which the former predictably won by unanimous decision Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden before a sellout crowd and who knows how many millions of eyes watching at home. Those numbers will eventually trickle in, each adding more zeros to a final preposterous tally set to fatten the bank accounts of all involved.

Money is the reason the main event was delayed by 30 minutes as cable companies set to show the fight crashed from one coast to the next. Somewhere out there in the middle of Eau Claire, Wis., there must have been a family demanding to be fleeced, and those promoting things were going to wait until the very last second to earn every last cent.

Money, in the way that no one was about to stall a train filled with bricks of gold, is also why we never heard about the shoulder injury until now.

What other reason could there be?

Well, other than that rematch theory ...

Arum left it wide open to interpretation, announcing after the fight, after his guy lost in a way that was decisive and obvious, that Pacquiao had engaged Mayweather with an injured right shoulder that he hurt almost a month ago.

Which means what? That every time Arum or trainer Freddie Roach or Pacquiao proclaimed the fighter as healthy and fit and focused and determined and prepared as ever — and they proclaimed such time and time and time again — they were all lying to those reporting on the fight and, more important, the public they teased into purchasing it?

Some might say that’s just boxing. Just sports. Happens all the time. That the Pacquiao camp couldn’t make public the injury and afford Mayweather the advantage of such knowledge.

All the while, they demanded inflated prices for tickets and pay-per-view buys and hotel rooms and merchandise and everything else that was shamelessly hiked up all over town and beyond.

Fine. Keep the injury quiet.

But then why talk about it at all?

There could be a hidden agenda, which, given the sport and those involved, is likely more certain than Floyd Mayweather Sr.’s fondness of posing as a poor man’s Dr. Seuss.

Maybe this is Arum’s way, no matter how much he denied this past week of ever wanting to again maneuver through such a hellish promotion, of at least floating the idea of a second fight.

His guy wasn’t 100 percent, he couldn’t throw his normal amount of punches, he was limited in ways to attack, his shoulder affected his handspeed, he deserves another shot, yada, yada, yada, whatever.

Pacquiao reportedly had been using an anti-inflammatory mix of the drugs Lidocaine, Bupivacaine and Celestone — all approved by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency — to deal with pain.

Still, his camp chose not to make the Nevada Athletic Commission aware of the injury when filling out standard medical paperwork Friday. His camp never checked any box. Never mentioned a thing.

The commission then rightly denied Pacquiao a shot of the anti-inflammatory medication in his locker room hours before the fight.

“I’m not angry,” NAC chairman Francisco Aguilar said. “I just want every fight to go as smoothly as possible. We need the fighters to be truthful in those (prefight) evaluations, because we need to make the proper evaluation as to whether the fighter should be in the ring.

“The first time we received any notice about this injury was (Saturday) at about 6:08 p.m. But there was no proof of the injury at that point, so there was no consideration given for an injection.

“These are not prohibited substances, but why they might be on fight night by the commission is you want the fighter to enter the ring in a natural state. Had we known prior to (Saturday) , we would have sent any (tests) over to the doctors to review and come up with a treatment plan for Mr. Pacquiao that is acceptable to commission doctors.”

Arum said the commission was made aware of the injury five days before the fight.

Sorry. I’m absolutely taking Aguilar’s side here.

Look. The NAC has its issues and hardly gets every decision correct, but what possible reason would it have to disregard an injury to a competitor in the most anticipated fight in history?

Why would the NAC lie about any of this, especially if it believed there was enough time to verify the injury and allow Pacquiao to be treated and still fight had notification come in a timely manner?

There is also this: If the injury flared up in the third round, as Arum said, how then did Pacquiao have his best rounds in the fourth and sixth, the only two in which all three judges agreed he won?

I’m sure there is a shoulder issue and Pacquiao might even need surgery, but the whole thing came off, mostly, as an excuse for losing. Roach said there was consideration of postponing the fight, Pacquiao said he did his best, Arum compared the injury to one suffered by Lakers star Kobe Bryant, and most listening seemed to understand the obvious: Mayweather won convincingly, and except for those who simply can’t see beyond their hatred for the undefeated champion, most would agree talking about a prefight injury after the fact falls flat. Nobody cares.

For weeks, everyone in Pacquiao’s camp looked into cameras and swore they never had seen him better, sharper, more intense and ready to fight.

And he had a bum shoulder the entire time?

But, hey, as long as those pay-per-view records were set, right?

As long as the train filled with bricks of gold pulled into the station on time.

What a crock.

Why didn’t they check the box?

Money. All of it that was made Saturday and perhaps all they believe could be made in a rematch.

The only problem is, the world saw the fight.

And a healthy shoulder won’t change a thing.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “Seat and Ed” on KRLV 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.