Manny Pacquiao gets victory #51 over Joshua Clottey in a yawner of epic proportions.
words by rick olivares picture by David Phillip
It was an ostentatious statement but in the heart of Texas, with Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion-dollar Cowboy Stadium that served as a venue for the fight, that’s mere modesty.
Unfortunately, this fight was boring.
“Jerry Jones welcomes you to Cowboys Stadium,” intoned ring announcer Michael Buffer. Only “The Event” turned out to be a non-event. The undercards were so sleep-inducing that the 50,994 who packed Cowboys Stadium (the third largest to ever view a boxing match after the 63,350 that packed the Louisiana Superdome to watch Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks II and the 59,995 that saw Julio Cesar Chavez battle Pernell Whitaker in the Alamodome in 1993) repeatedly did the wave to entertain themselves until it too, did a natural death.
The match for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) Lightweight title between David Diaz and Humberto Soto brought the buzz back to the crowd and when they touched gloves to signify the start of their match, the mass of humanity roared as if they were willing the fighters to put on a worthy show. Oh, they fought, in fact Diaz got decked briefly in the first round, but as the rounds went by, it too, failed to satisfy even as Soto picked up the belt via unanimous decision.
The end of undercards was merciful in coming as everyone prayed for salvation from boredom.
And it certainly looked promising. As Joshua Clottey danced on the way to the ring, a member of Manny Pacquiao’s entourage, engaged him by giving him the slit throat sign. Clottey, unperturbed, gyrated on in front of the flag-waving Filipino.
The fight has been bereft of the traditional trash talking between two fighters and this was the closest it was going to come to because even after the match, both fighters continued with their mutual admiration society and offered praise for one another.
However, the fight was one-sided all the way.
From the opening bell, Clottey, not wanting to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao, threw up his arms in his standard defensive posture. Freddie Roach expected the Ghanaian to employ that strategy so he had Pacman tenderizing the challenger’s body while trying to sneak a punch through Clottey’s arms.
Yet as the rounds went by, it proved doubly frustrating for the Filipino who is used to foes trying to knock the perpetual smile off his face. As Pacquiao grew weary of the pace and defensive nature of Clottey’s game plan, the champ banged his gloves together and urged his foe to start trading punches.
The challenger would from time to time sneak in a punch or two that he hoped would knock down Pacquiao; something that hasn’t been done since 1999 when he lost the WBC Flyweight title to Thai boxer Medgoen Singsurat who beat him in three rounds. But the Accra-native rocked Pacquiao with some hooks and uppercuts and the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) Welterweight champ later sported an ugly welt under his right eye. Clottey absorbed 246 punches from the Filipino while landing only 108 of his own.
With Clottey in his “turtle” defense, something that Muhammad Ali used once in a while, the champ teed off relentlessly. Pacquiao threw an astounding 1,231 punches – more than a hundred per round (his opponent launched only 399).
“I didn’t feel Manny’s power,” said a relieved Clottey who through his tactics avoided getting knocked out, a fate that befell three of the four world champions the champ bested in recent years. “It’s just his speed was too much for me.”
In exasperation and in an act right out of the Three Stooges, Pacquiao bonked Clottey on his left and right ears using both his fists eliciting disbelieving laughter from all who saw it. He threw combinations and jabs at will all throughout. “I felt that I was in control after the first round,” said Pacquiao in the post-fight interview. He intimated that the fight was easy yet there were moments when Clottey had a chance to put the champ in trouble yet wasn’t able to follow through. Even Clottey’s trainer Lenny De Jesus seemed alarmed and annoyed at his fighter’s lack of pace and fight. “We’ve lost every single round. You gotta take a chance. You’re in a fight and you gotta start taking chances.”
Unfortunately, Clottey, one of the good guys in boxing, was downright offensive albeit in the wrong way. If fight fans felt they were robbed when Jose Luis Castillo suddenly quit after the sixth round of his match with an up and coming Alfonso Gomez who retained his WBC Continental American Welterweight championship, then how much more after Clottey went into the match with a plan only to survive?
Castillo fought one of arguably best boxing matches of all time when he fought the late Diego Corrales for the WBC Lightweight title on May 7, 2005. Corrales defeated Castillo with a tenth round TKO in a stunning reversal after the latter floored him twice. Against Gomez, he could not turn back the swarming youngster and he decided not to answer the bell after the sixth round that somewhat surprised referee Kenny Bayless.
Clottey’s tactic may actually be sound and Top Rank Boxing head honcho Bob Arum seemed to agree in a post-fight interview. “He did what he had to do.” he said succinctly. But as De Jesus pleaded, the challenger was clearly running out of rounds if he wanted to steal a win.
And so the fight went to its unexpected conclusion – the distance. But there was never any doubt. The judge were unanimous in their decision -- Duane Ford scored it 120-108 while Levi Martinez and Nelson Vasquez both graded it 119-109 -- for Manny Pacquiao’s 12th consecutive victory.
With his first successful defense since taking the WBC belt from Miguel Cotto, who was in the audience, Pacquiao climbed to 51-3-2 with 38 KOs while Clottey stumbled to 35-4 with 21 KOs.
Said a clearly disappointed De Jesus after the match, “Joshua Clottey had the power to knock him out but was reluctant to punch. We clearly got beat. I don’t think he won a round.”
After the fight, Pacquiao seemed more intent to get out of venue and head over to the Diamond Club, the dining facility of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers that’s just across the street from Cowboys Stadium along E. Randoll Mill Road corner Ballpark Way. He was late for his concert where he was going to serenade his fans.
That was the bigger event in Pacquiao’s mind for the night.
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On the topic of boxing, I'm excited for the upcoming fight between Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman and John Duddy and Julio Cesar Chavez. Whooo!
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