Manny Pacquiao progressing, to return to the U.S. for follow-up on shoulder
Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer
CARSON, Calif. -- Former eight-division titleholder Manny Pacquiao, who had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder following his decision loss to Floyd Mayweather on May 2 in the richest fight in boxing history, is coming along well in his recovery, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com on Thursday.
"Manny says he has been doing well. He said he has been feeling better," Arum said following the final news conference for Saturday night's interim welterweight title bout between Timothy Bradley Jr. and Jessie Vargas at the StubHub Center.
Arum said Pacquiao will return to the United States from the Philippines around July 4 for a follow-up exam with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the famed orthopedic surgeon who performed the 90-minute procedure on Pacquiao's shoulder.
"Manny is coming over to see the doctor and then he will start his serious rehab," Arum said. "He'll stay here for probably about two weeks and then he will go back to the Philippines. One of the rehab guys will go with him to make sure he is doing his rehab program the right way."
Arum said he has been in touch with Pacquiao regularly since the welterweight title unification fight with Mayweather.
"Every week he calls and I update him on the money that is coming in. It's money like he's never seen before," Arum said of the returns on the bout that crushed every boxing record, including selling 4.4 million pay-per-view subscriptions and generating a total gross of about $600 million.
The injury will keep Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) out of the ring for the rest of the year. Arum said he expects Pacquiao to fight again in the first half of 2016 as long as his shoulder heals as expected.
Back to what Paulie said before, "Where is the MRI?!?!"