Manny Pacquiao's hidden shoulder injury is turning into a complete debacle

The more we learn about Manny Pacquiao's right shoulder injury, the uglier it looks for all sides involved.

The shoulder injury Pacquiao suffered before his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was much more serious than it initially sounded, and it turns out Pacquiao will need surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.

While the immediate effect of the surgery is to sideline Pacquiao for up to a year and eliminate the already-dim hopes for a rematch with Mayweather, who won Saturday's match by unanimous decision, the injury has caused a further mess as people try to figure out who knew about it, why it wasn't reported, and why Pacquiao was denied treatment before the fight.

According to Dashon Johnson, one of Pacquiao's sparring partners, the injury occurred a "few weeks" before Saturday's fight and was so significant that the sparring partners were sent home because Pacquiao couldn't fight with the injury. Johnson said he was instructed to keep it a secret.

Despite supposedly being unable to fully train in the weeks before the fight, Pacquiao signed a medical questionnaire "under penalty of perjury" at the weigh-in with a check mark "No" next to the question, "Have you had any injury to your shoulders, elbow, or hands that needed evaluation or examination?"

Here is that form via Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.

Twitter/KevinI

The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) told the Associated Press that Pacquiao either "made a terrible mistake to not follow the rules or they were trying not to give information to the other side."

If Pacquiao were trying to keep the injury hidden from Mayweather, it may have been a futile move as there is evidence a "mole" in Pacquiao's camp leaked information to Team Mayweather prior to the fight. If true, Mayweather almost certainly knew about the injury.

Further complicating matters, according to a statement released by the Pacquiao promoter Top Rank, Pacquiao's side did notify Usada about the injury and had treatment approved including possible injections of Toradol (a non-steroidal prescription medication) and lidocaine (designed to numb the area of the injury).

The approval for those treatments was received from Usada "at least five days before the fight."

The Nevada State Athletic Commission, however, told the Los Angeles Times it was not made aware of the treatment plan and blocked the injections on the night of the fight. Chairman Francisco Aguilar said there was no proof of injury and he was not comfortable allowing Pacquiao to fight with a numbed shoulder, as that could make an existing injury worse.

A last-minute appeal that included confirmation of the treatment from the chairman of Usada was denied.

While Top Rank says the shoulder did improve leading up to the fight, Pacquiao reportedly was not 100% on the night of the fight, and he later told the Times he reinjured the shoulder in the fourth round of the fight.

Aguilar also said the Nevada state attorney general's office would look into the matter and that Pacquiao could face disciplinary action, including fine or suspension, for not accurately answering the questionnaire before the fight, according to an AP report.

Pacquiao's camp contended that its fighter was not making excuses for his performance. This mess, however, does raise the question about whether the fight should have been postponed and whether the viewing and betting public were deceived to keep the richest bout of all time on schedule.