CARINA 360°: PACQUIAO vs.CLOTTEY

On March 13th, the anticipated fight between “The Fighting Pride of the Philippines,” Manny Pacquiao versus the Ghana native Joshua Clottey was not the most exciting fight.
I feel bad for those who paid 50 bucks to see it on Pay-Per-View.

As we boxing enthusiasts know, Pacquiao’s record is highly impressive. 51 wins and 3 losses. Including 38 KO’s. Clottey’s record is also as impressive with 35 Wins, 4 Losses, with 20 KO’s.

So clearly, I - and the 50,994 attendees at Cowboys Stadium - expected to see a good fight.

Clottey had his guard up the whole time. Even then, Pacquiao’s hits still hurt him.
Pacquiao responded with raging shots to the head whenever Clottey attempted to make a mark.

Pacquiao's hits were clean. However in round 4 Pacquiao hit him with two hands at once, causing the referee to stop the fight for a quick second.

Body shots to Clottey seemed to be “Pacman’s” strategy.
Clottey was basically letting him win. I was hoping he was saving the best for last.
By round five, Clottey seemed to finally open up. Still, one of the judges said Clottey “didn’t come to win tonight.” He was giving the fight away.

Clottey gave punches to the face, but didn’t seem to affect Pacquiao much until the 9th round. Pacquiao was injured under the right eye. Clottey wasn’t blocking as much like before. But with Pacquiao’s combination punches - Clottey didn’t stand a chance.

Every time a round ended Clottey’s trainer, Lenny Dejesus, told him to “take a chance.” He clearly didn’t listen.
With everything on the line for both: money, career, reputation. What’s the excuse for Clottey? If only he would let go, he probably had a chance to win it. It was a unanimous decision.
Pacquiao won.

To give Clottey some credit, he had clean counterpunches. “Pacman” called Clottey, “strong enough” and said the fight was “very hard.” I think he was just being nice.

On May 1st Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather will hopefully face off. I’m a Mosley fan, and I want him to win. However, whoever wins that fight will face-off Pacquiao. And I think a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao smack down will be the fight of the century.

There was talk of them fighting, but steroid allegations prevented it.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach (who also trained my uncle back in the day) said when the day comes to fight Mayweather they “will crush him.”