Pacquiao vs Mayweather 2015: Floyd Stops Training; Sparring on Hold Due to "Split Lip"

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Floyd Mayweather suffered a split lip and is forced to stop his training for his upcoming fight with Manny Pacquiao.

The pair will finally face on May 2 in a much awaited showdown in Las Vegas to bring to the ring what is believed to be a "super-fight" in all of boxing history, according to ESPN.

"He couldn't spar for a few days because his lip was cut," according to Bob Arum. "They had to manufacture a special headgear that covered his lip because every time Floyd got hit, it bled." 

According to David Mayo of MLive.com, Mayweather suffers from a split lip and injured hands. He added that, "He (Mayweather) sparred through the surely excruciating pain of superficial skin marks on his knuckles, then had to cope with the sting of the ointment."

Mayweather continued sparring with his split lip and only after the session ended did he inspect his lip injury. Immediately afterwards, he made a few rounds with the heavy bag and then called for another sparring session in the ring.

However, Mayo says that the injuries that these two had that were headlining the sports news last week are "is outsized and overblown."

"Older fighters cope with injuries all the time. Mayweather is 38. Pacquiao is 36. It would be a surprise if they didn't have some aches and pains."

Neither Mayweather's nor Pacquiao's injuries will cause the scheduled fight in May to be delayed or postponed.

"Let me confirm that Mayweather indeed has been coping with hand injuries. He has some skin marks on his knuckles. They require antiseptic. He even sometimes blows on them to relieve the stinging after the medication is applied, lest anyone think it is impossible to hurt boxing's pound-for-pound king," he wrote.

It is not the first time that Mayweather endured the pain from his injuries. Mayo recalled the featherweight championship title fight against Carlos Hernandez 14 years ago. The fight was when Mayweather's hands "gave out."

In 2009, Mayweather bruised his ribs before his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. The fight had to be postponed because of the injury. At present, Mayweather wears a flak jacket for rib protection when sparring to prevent "any recurrence." Mayo adds that it does not equate to a rib problem.

"Nothing is structurally wrong with Mayweather's hands. Nothing about his split lip will alter his sparring schedule to any meaningful extent."

Pacquiao, Mayweather's rival, works through calve cramping by apply salve and continues his training.

"As to Mayweather-Pacquiao, when it comes to the injuries that seem to concern so many, including many otherwise unconcerned about boxing, there's nothing to see here until three weekends from now, when they try to inflict injury upon each other."

Both fighters are in a lot of pain in training, Mayo concludes his write-up with, "If one of the fighters hurts a little bit in his old age, remember, they both had five years to make this fight when they were younger."