Pacquiao Could Face a 4-Year Jail Term for “Lying” about Injury

Pinoy boxing champ Manny Pacquiao could be jailed for four years after allegedly lying about his shoulder injury on a pre-fight medical questionnaire before his fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Apparently, Pacquiao committed a serious offense: perjury.

After his loss via unanimous decision, Pacquiao admitted that he had suffered injuries on his right shoulder during training, though they kept quiet about it since Mayweather could have targeted the area during the fight. (Pacquiao later said Mayweather reportedly found out about an injury from a leak.)

Criminal Charge: Perjury

The People’s Champ could face charges of perjury which carries penalties and jail term of up to four years for allegedly keeping his injury a secret. Perjury is a D-class felony and is punishable by law. The penalties mentioned above were specifically stipulated by the law.

The pre-fight medical questionnaire is a legal document and specifically warns the boxers that they can be charged with perjury if they lied about anything.

Pacquiao Dares Boxing Commission to File the Case

The boxing champ denied that there was an attempt to lie about his injury, saying the team even mentioned all the medications he has been taking for the injuries. Though earlier reports could not verify whether it was the boxer who completed the form, it was later revealed that it was actually his manager Michael Koncz who filled out the form.

Koncz owned up the mistake, saying he had marked the wrong box but the team maintains that they were not trying to hide anything. In fact, they had even informed the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency about the injury, weeks prior to the fight because the agency was the one tasked to do the random blood tests.

When informed that he could face serious sanctions for the incident, he dared the commission to produce the papers and file a case against him, reports ABS-CBN News.