Pacquiao’s Perfect Performance

Joshua Clottey was a caricature of a boxer that night – too bad to be real and too real to be believable.
That, however, just proved a point that The Event was never about the punching bag that was Clottey. It was, after all, about the whirlwind of a man in his opposite corner.

Perhaps that was also the reason Clottey appeared comical – not quite as being held down by the weight of his inneptitude but by the approaching onslaught that appeared to be perpetual. Across him was a man who’s really that good – make it great. At times a blur but almost always an exclamation point of force, Pacquiao was (in Clottey’s mind) one punch away from knocking him down.

Of course Clottey never went down. He was never knocked out. Nobody is expected to knock out a punching bag. Not even Pacquiao. And not even in Dallas.

The Event was a one man show. And we could not blame Pacquiao when it turned out a bore because in boxing, as in dance, it takes two to tango.

In Clottey’s defense – all pun intended – he’s also not entirely at fault. He was simply outclassed. (Big time because it happened in Dallas where, you know, everything’s big.) His failure to perform could be attributed to Pacquiao’s performance. Pacquiao, after all, is such a great fighter known to make even elite fighters look mediocre, if not downright bad. Why should Clottey be the exception?

Clottey was standing when the final bell rung. That must be, in Clottey’s mind, an accomplishment by itself. With Pacquiao’s recent run of havoc, it must indeed be. Congrats to Clottey also but we don’t want more of that.

“He had a good defense, but defense isn’t enough to win a fight,” Roach said of Clottey. He might as well have said it to goad another fighter.

The Event, for all its pomp and glory, was found wanting. It all goes back now to the fight we truly wanted. Everything now depends on Mayweather. If he survives Mosley and answers the call, he could – in spite of himself – really save boxing.

It will be a hardest fight for Manny

Clottey is tough in that he sticks around for the full 12 rounds in his fights and lands an occasional nice shot during the first half of his bouts. He can land with some power with his left hand and make for a rough fight during the first six rounds, but after that Clottey becomes much less effective as he tires out.

Pacquiao seems not to care whether he knocks Clottey out or not, saying “It doesn’t matter to me. I do 30 rounds everyday in the gym, and the fight is only 12 rounds, so going over 12 rounds is not a problem for me.” 

That’s a refreshing perspective by Pacquiao. At least he’s not putting pressure on himself to have to try and stop Clottey, because a knockout might not come in this fight. Clottey can take a heck of a shot, and doesn’t leave himself open all that much because of his high guard that he uses. Clottey mostly puts his energy on defending, and isn’t the type that takes chances like Ricky Hatton, who Pacquiao destroyed in two rounds last year in May. Hatton tried throwing hooks and was taken out by Pacquiao. 

Bob Arum of Top Rank, who just happens to be promoting both Pacquiao and Clottey in this fight, has this to say: “It’s going to take all that. Manny has to beat Clottey, no less knock him out. I would be much more surprised if Manny knocks him out. I look for this to be a distance fight. I don’t know how you knock Clottey out.” Arum says that he would seek an immediate rematch between Pacquiao and Clottey should Clottey be able to pull off a huge upset and beat Pacquiao.

Pacquiao-Clottey: How can 45,000 be a sellout when the stadium holds 80,000?

If the stadium is sold out, then it means that 80,000 fans purchased tickets for the fight, not 45,000. I’m not even all that impressed with the 45,000 figure. I keep hearing that it’s near that total, but they don’t give the exact totals for the tickets that are currently sold. Why not? 

That just makes me not trust any of the numbers. Whatever the amount of tickets that do eventually get sold for the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight, I don’t expect it to be anywhere close to 80,000 fans, and I’m now thinking that it won’t even get to 45,000 either. My guess is that it will be lucky to bring in 30,000 fans, which will seem kind of ridiculous in a huge stadium like the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

This is just hype for a fight that doesn’t have two stars. I think they wasted the stadium on this fight. They could have easily fit the same amount of people that will be attending the fight in the MGM Grand by putting in outside seats. This is like way overboard for a fight that isn’t that big of a deal.

You got to have to an opposing big star if you want to fight in a huge stadium like that. In this case, it’s just Pacquiao versus some guy that nobody has heard of except for hardcore boxing fans. And what makes this even worse is that Clottey lost his last fight. How does that look? Pacquiao just finished fighting Miguel Cotto, who was had recently been torn apart by Antonio Margarito.

Pacquiao also fought Ricky Hatton, who also was beaten up and taken out not long before he faced Pacquiao. Oscar De La Hoya, another Pacquiao victim, had lost three out of his last six fights going into his bout with Pacquiao. What is up with that? Is boxing so bad off that those guys have to be selected as Pacquiao’s opponents? Why not Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Shane Mosley? Don’t tell me. I already know.

But as far the Pacquiao-Clottey fight being called a sell out if 45,000 tickets being sold, I think that’s the silliest thing I’ve heard before, because the stadium holds twice that total. If you have a stadium that you can retrofit at a moment’s notice to fit any number up to 80,000, it’s ludicrous to call it a sell out when they’ll keep selling tickets up until 80,000 tickets are sold. I mean they’re not going stop selling tickets when 45,000 tickets have been sold, are they? Of course not, which is why it’s crazy to say the fight is nearly a sellout.

Can Clottey make Pacquiao submit?

Look for Manny Pacquiao to fold under the heavy pressure from Joshua Clottey on March 13th. When this fight was first signed, I thought this would be simple cut and dried case of Pacquiao being too good for Clottey. But after seeing how good Clottey is looking in training and doing some research into his last fight against Miguel Cotto, I think Clottey is going to batter Pacquiao like a rag doll and ultimately make him submit or have his trainer Freddie Roach step in for him to yank Pacquiao from the fight.

It’s going to be a shocking loss, to be sure, but when you look at how big and powerful Clottey is, and how much motivation he’ll have for this fight, it’s not going to be that surprising. Pacquiao is already rich beyond belief in the Philippines, and doesn’t need to work another day in his life if he doesn’t want to.

In contrast, Clottey is still a struggling fighter and has yet to get the huge paydays that Pacquiao has grown accustomed to getting. As a result, Clottey is going to be fighting at a level that we’ve never seen him fight before. If any of you are familiar with the James Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson fight in 1990, you’ll notice that Douglas, a good fighter, fought well beyond his normal ability in that fight and surprised Tyson, dominating most of the fight with his high energy attack and eventually taking Tyson out in the 10th round.

Douglas probably would have lost to Tyson under normal circumstances, but the motivation and adrenalin that Douglas was able to summon up for that one fight alone was enough for him to pull off the upset and capture Tyson’s IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight titles. Unfortunately for Douglas, he wasn’t able to sustain this high level for long, as he was immediately beaten in his next fight against Evander Holyfield, losing a 3rd round knockout in October 1990.

But that doesn’t matter for Clottey, just as long as he fights well above his ability in this one fight, I think he can beat Pacquiao, capture his WBO title and set himself up for big money in a rematch with the Filipino star in the future. Clottey has everything to gain in this fight, while Pacquiao is likely looking past this bout for a potential big money bout against the winner of the May 1st bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley.

For Clottey to beat Pacquiao, he’s going to have to stay off the ropes, resist covering up for long stretches at a time and to make sure he goes after Pacquiao constantly to try and wear him down. Clottey will have to also depend on his chin to be able to take a certain amount of punishing shots from Pacquiao, because he won’t get far if he’s getting dropped left and right like Pacquiao’s recent victims Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Those fighters were never able to really challenge Pacquiao because they were almost immediately in trouble in the fight and found themselves getting knocked down repeatedly.

Clottey vs. Pacquiao bout is just a waste of time

We already know the likely outcome of this fight. Anything can happen when it comes to boxing, but everything is set up for Pacquiao to win. This can be a real easy fight for Pacquiao. Although Clottey is a solid defensive fighter who does a good job of shielding himself from harm with his Winky Wright like defense, he is flat footed and like recent Pacquiao opponents, or actually like most of the opponents Pacquiao has faced. Clottey also likes to press forward which suits perfectly with Pacquiao’s plans. The Ghanaian warrior simply does not have the style to beat Pacquiao, and he also lacks the speed and power to seriously leave an imprint on Pacquiao. I can visualize Manny bouncing around the ring moving in and out, while Clottey slowly drags his feet forward and will end up getting tagged by the much quicker Pacquiao all night long. Clottey is far from weak, but he does not possess devastating knock out power so there is no threat there. Although Clottey is the bigger fighter coming into this match up, he may not even get the chance to impose his size on Manny. And I have a suspicion even if Clottey makes it a close fight and it goes the full 12 rounds, the judges will award Pacquiao with the automatic decision because of the politics of the sport. 

Another strike against Joshua is his level of opposition. The only marquee names on his resume include Cotto, Judah, Baldomir, and Margarito. Clottey has not really stood out against the few good opponents he has faced. He basically stopped fighting against Margarito after he broke his hands mid way through the fight, he lost composure and could not control his emotions and got disqualified against Baldomir. He had a decent showing against a faded Zab Judah, who by the way was coming off a knock out loss to Miguel Cotto, a sound defeat by the hands of Floyd Mayweather, and some inner turmoil and inactivity. Then we have the late great Diego Corrales. The problem with the Corrales victory is the proud warrior was only a shell of his former self and was moving up from his natural light weight class up to welterweight.

This isn’t to knock Joshua Clottey because he is a tough fighter and possess qualities that make him a solid contender. But you can surely question his status as an elite fighter, and seeing as he is coming off a loss, he probably shouldn’t be stepping in the ring with the likes of Manny Pacquiao. If you’re Manny, why fight a guy who recently lost to the guy you just beat?

Why even put this on ppv? Why waste the time of boxing fans putting this together? Especially in wake of the elections going on in the Philippines, and with the recent leg injury to Pacquiao suffered in camp, wouldn’t it be best to put a halt to everything and wait for things to play out? Ok you couldn’t secure a fight with Mayweather, so maybe you can find another fight right? Like maybe against the likes of Shane Mosley, or Paul Williams, or even Yuri Foreman. The Foreman fight would work out because he is a Top Rank fighter so Arum can make more money off that and keep the cash in-house just like he would with Clottey. Also in fighting Foreman, Pacquiao would also being chasing history with the 8th title. Or you could just let Pacquiao rest and handle the elections and try to make a fight with Mayweather later in the year.

Apparently, Mr. Arum had other plans. And lets say the impossible happens and Pacquiao loses to Joshua Clottey March 13th what happens then? Clottey vs. the winner of Mayweather/Mosley? Do you know how much money Arum would lose out on? The dream match everyone had hoped for between Mayweather and Pacquiao probably wouldn’t even happen and boxing would suffer another huge blow.

"Manny, my time is now!!!" - Joshua Clottey

Former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey is confident that he has what it takes to beat World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in their fight on March 13th, at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, in Arlington, Texas. In an article at Ghanaweb< Clottey, 32, said “I know its Pacquiao, but I don’t want people thinking that Manny is super, that nobody can beat him. He is a human being like me. He has lost three times and I have also lost three times. We speak, laugh and share jokes together. I promise that I will dethrone him” [Pacquiao].

Clottey doesn’t seem bothered by all the people who are giving him almost zero chance to beat Pacquiao. Clottey has been in against some tough world class opponents during his career, in fights against Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah, Diego Corrales and Antonio Margarito. One problem that Clottey has is that he’s only had mixed results when stepping it.

Clottey has lost to Cotto, Margarito and Carlos Baldomir during his career. There’s no shame in losing to good fighters like them, but Clottey doesn’t have a lot of other wins against notable opponents to make up for his losses against some of the best opponents he’s faced.

In the fights that Clottey has lost, he’s generally fought very well during patches of the fight. However, in almost every case, Clottey has seemed to run out of gas and have his work rate suffer as the rounds progressed late into the fight. Even in some of the fights that Clottey has won, he’s faded late and turned fights that should have been a lopsided win or knockout into a fight that turned to be much closer than it should have.

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, will likely have Pacquiao following a fight plan which involves Pacquiao using quick in and out attacks to avoid getting hit by Clottey. Roach won’t want Pacquiao to stand in front of Clottey and try to slug with him because of Clottey’s bigger size, good hand speed and strong chin.

Clottey isn’t the type of fighter that can easily be knocked out. This is why their March 13th fight could turn out to be a very boring fight with Pacquiao winning it by hitting and running. Roach says that Clottey will make for an exciting fight for fans, but it could turn out completely opposite of that with Pacquiao fighting on the move for 12 rounds.