Manny Pacquiao suffers ear injury in win over Cotto

In case you forgot, here's a reminder. Boxing is a rough sport.

Though Manny Pacquiao was pretty dominant in his victory over Miguel Cotto on Saturday night, conditioning coach Alex Ariza says the Filipino phenom suffered ruptured cartilage in his ear. Ronnie Nathanielsz reports:

Manny Pacquiao’s right ear reportedly ruptured badly in the "Fire Power" showdown against WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas last Saturday, causing some blood which had to be drained out by Dr. Jeffrey Roth.

However, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who is a personal friend of Dr. Roth indicated there was no cause for concern in the light of the pleas by Pacquiao’s mother Dionisia, for Pacquiao to retire following his record-breaking seventh world title in seven weight divisions and her fears that Pacquiao could get seriously hurt if he continues to fight.

...

Alex Ariza revealed that the cartilage "ruptured very mildly during training camp and we were treating it throughout. But Cotto clearly landed some good shots on that ear and it ruptured badly."

This isn't one of those phantom injuries, either. Pacquiao's ear was wrapped in gauze at the post-fight press conference, and you could see during the post-fight stuff in the ring that something was a bit off, almost a cauliflower ear on Pacquiao's right ear. It shouldn't be a major injury for Pacquiao to deal with, and shouldn't delay anything, really.