Now, we all know who won The Event. The Filipino undisputed king of the ring Manny Pacquiao reigned supreme in his last fight over the Ghana, Africa native Joshua Clottey and retained his WBO Welterweight belt at the Cowboys Stadium last Sunday, March 14, 2010 (Manila time).
Pacquiao, (51-3-2, 38 KOs) earned a unanimous victory over Clottey (35-4, 1 NC, 20 KOs), who barely fought through the whole 12 rounds of the fight. Dismayed over Clottey's luck-luster performance is the 51,000 strong, the biggest since the Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. - Greg Haugen fight where 132,274 showed up to set a record for fight attendance in boxing. The Event also garnered 700, 000 PPV buys, lower compared to 1.25 million that the Pacquiao - Cotto bout sold last November. We already heard the most of Manny's thoughts about the fight, so that leaves the people (at least for some not-so hardcore boxing fans) wonder why Clottey fought that way.
I think Clottey, having fought some of the boxing's biggest names, already knew before the fight that he'll face the sports top fighter. So, in my opinion, did the right thing. Protect himself from humiliation.
Unlike David Diaz (KO 9), he (Clottey) covered himself all fight long to avoid those lightning speed punches. According to Diaz, whenever Manny's throwing up combos, he thought that Manny's trainer, Freddie Roach, was also throwing up punches against him. So Clottey, aware of Manny's talent, avoided those dreaded punches. Compared to Oscar Dela Hoya (TKO 8), Clottey moved a little more around the ring. Oscar had his legs stiffed against Manny which resulted to Oscar being cornered and pounded. According to CompuBox, Pacquiao unleashed an average of 73.1 punches per round (far above the welterweight average of 58) against Dela Hoya while in his fight against Clottey, Pacquiao averaged 102.5 per round, result of Clottey's "turtle-shell" defense and more ring movements. That made Manny threw up more punches to chase him and open up his defense. Against Ricky Hatton (KO 2), Manny let himself be bullied by Hatton and provided him with a finishing left hook, which did not happen in his fight against Clottey, again it's because of his boring yet effective defense. Lastly, Miguel Cotto (TKO 12), Manny left him bloodied and bruised, which Clottey didn't suffer in their fight. Clottey provided some more "extra careful shots" to Manny. Unlike Cotto who exchaged blows that left himself uncovered that resulted to a knockdown in rounds 3 and 4. Clottey and Cotto both share the punching power against the smaller Pacquiao but still in boxing, "speed kills".
Those four shared the common fate, knock out loss. As a result after their loss, there's also one thing in common on what to do next, retirement, as what the people close to them suggested. Clottey, on the other side, also suffered loss but doesn't include retirement as one of his future plans. Clottey can still face other big names in boxing like Andre Berto or Paul Williams, dubbed as welterweight's "most avoided man". He can even go down back a notch to light welterweight to face Amir Khan, who Roach predicted as the one who can beat Manny in the future. He may even face again Antonio Margarito or Cotto in a rematch, if Cotto decides not to retire.
As for now, Clottey can go back home for a short time then find the right next opponent as a comeback while he's still in his tip-top body shape.
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