Pacquiao-Clottey Prediction, Round by Round Coverage Tonight

Note: This article will be updated tonight with round by round coverage of tonight’s main event.

Tonight, top welterweights Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey do battle in front of an estimated 45,000 fans at Dallas Stadium. The site is billed by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as the most avant-garde entertainment facility in the world, and will serve as a litmus test on boxing’s current drawing power.

For challenger and perennial contender Joshua Clottey, this fight represents a golden, and possibly final chance to exorcise past performance demons. In his 2 biggest fights against Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, Clottey appeared to be in the driver’s seat early before suffering collapses. With Margarito, Clottey dominated early before going into a shell following a hand injury and losing a decision. Against Cotto, Clottey seemed close to forcing a stoppage before inexplicably dropping his punch output and losing a controversial split decision.

Pacquiao is taking on his second consecutive top 5 welterweight. Although he is the favorite, there exists the possibility of a letdown since the original opponent today was supposed to be Floyd Mayweather in the most lucrative fight in boxing history (both men could not come to terms on Olympic style drug testing). However, an impressive showing by the Filipino icon can put him in the driver’s seat should talks resume with Mayweather as expected later this year.

Joshua Clottey’s mindset tonight must be constant punching and pressure. He’s facing the most dynamic fighter in the game today, one who never stops throwing punches for 3 minutes of every round. Simply hiding behind his tight guard will just result in him being outworked and posting a lopsided decision loss. Clottey has underrated handspeed, and although it’s not on the level of Pacquiao, he must be willing to take chances and punch with Pacquiao when the Filipino darts in to let loose a combination. Manny has yet to be consistently hit by a bigger man, so Clottey as a big welterweight has a shot to wear down Pacquiao if he can land with authority and regularly for several rounds.

Manny Pacquiao’s key to victory remains doing what he does better than anyone else; punches from every angle, and continuous movement. As a defensive-first fighter, Clottey instinctively looks to block his opponents strikes first before launching his own firepower. This is a huge advantage for Pacquiao, who will have to keep Clottey constantly turning through movement and prevent him from getting set to launch any offense or counterpunch. Clottey later admitted after the Cotto fight he clammed up and became cautious later after the first round flash knockdown. If Pacquiao can land hard early, the Ghanian welterweight may mentally go to the same place.

Clottey looks great as usual, but I don’t believe he’ll have an answer for Pacquiao’s speed and movement. The challenger makes it a competitive fight, but in the end Pacquiao lands more punches, and Clottey more than likely will have stretches of inactivity where he sticks to defense and hurts himself badly on the cards. A Pacquiao knockout would be shocking considering Clottey’s durability, so the prediction is Manny Pacquiao by clear decision over Joshua Clottey, probably by the score of 116-112.

Author: Ismael AbduSalaam

Source: allhiphop.com

Pacquiao’s magic number is 149, says trainer Roach

GRAPEVINE, Texas—For four-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, 149 is Manny Pacquiao’s magic number, his perfect fighting weight.

No wonder, he and conditioning trainer Alex Ariza want Pacquiao to come in at that exact weight against Ghana’s Joshua Clottey on Saturday (Sunday) in Manila.

Roach must have noted that Pacquiao weighed 149 pounds when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their World Boxing Organization welterweight crown showdown last year.

“I think we will stop him,” said Roach. “I don’t think we’ll knock him out with a one punch, but we’ll overwhelm him and make him quit, yes. Before the 12th.”

Though he’s greatly feared for his voluminous punches, Pacquiao also owns a one punch knockout as displayed in his ninth round knockout of Chicago’s David Diaz and his second round demolition of Briton Ricky Hatton.

With his dervish in and out movements, Pacquiao is expected to break through Clottey’s defenses in the middle rounds with body shots before going for the kill in the 10th to 12th rounds.

Roach thinks Clottey is too defense-oriented and will eventually be caught by Pacquiao’s patented left hook.

Online polls also gave Pacquiao a good chance of finally dealing Clottey his first-ever knockout loss.

Author: Roy Luarca

Source: sports.inquirer.net

WEIGHTS FROM TEXAS

ARLINGTON, TX -- The fighters for the “Event” scheduled on Saturday night at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington had the official weight in this afternoon.

The following are the weights:

FOR PACQUIAO'S WBO WELTERWEIGHT BELT:
Manny Pacquiao - 145.75 lbs.
Joshua Clottey - 147 lbs.

FOR THE VACANT WBC LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE
David Diaz - 134 lbs.
Humbert Soto - 134 lbs.

FOR THE WBC CONTINENTAL AMERICAS WELTERWEIGHT TITLE
Jose Luis Castillo - 144 lbs.
Alfonso Gomez - 145 lbs.

Top photo: Manny Pacquiao (L) and Joshua Clottey pose during this afternoon's weigh-in at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX.

Author: Ed de la Vega, DDS

Source: Philboxing.com

PACQUIAO MAY GIVE AWAY TEN POUNDS TO CLOTTEY

Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao may give away around ten pounds when he enters the ring in “The Event” against Ghana’s tough guy Joshua Clottey at the unbelievable $1.2 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Sunday, Manila Time.

At the official weigh-in which drew a huge crowd of predominantly Pacquiao supporters, the Filipino champion weighed 145 ¾ pounds while Clottey who reportedly had to shed off some excess weight the previous day tipped the scales at the exact welterweight limit of 147.

Clottey said earlier that he was going to have a hearty meal after the weigh in and the consensus is that he will enter the ring at around 160 pounds on fight night although his trainer Lenny De Jesus told us the other day that he wanted to make sure Clottey comes in around 155 so his weight won’t slow him down against the super fast Pacquiao.

Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza said he expects Pacquiao to weight around 150 at fight time which would definitely give Clottey, who can take a big shot, an advantage in weight to go with his slight advantage in height which was evident when the two fighters posted for the media.

Try as they might to provide the customary stare-down, Pacquiao and Clottey couldn’t pull it off and instead smiled at each other further accentuating what Pacquiao has always maintained – there is no need for trash-talk.

Indeed, if there is one added dimension to the Pacquiao legend is that like the late, great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, he earns the respect of his opponents by being a gentleman in and outside the ring.

The two Filipinos featured in the undercard also made weight without trouble.

Featherweight Michael Farenas, a protégé of former two-division world champion Gerry Penalosa came in at 127 1/5 pounds as against the 126 of veteran Joe Morales while bantamweight Eden Sonsona, a protégé of Pacquiao’s former business manager, the late Rod Nazario weighed 119.7 pounds while his opponent, former world champion, veteran Mauricio Pastrana checked in at 119 ½ pounds.

In the WBC lightweight title fight former champion David Diaz from whom Pacquiao won the title with a crushing 9th round tipped the scales at 134 while champion Humberto Sotto was slightly heavier at 134 1/5 pounds.

Diaz believes that Pacquiao faces "a tough fight against Clottey, but its a winnable fight for Pacquiao." WBA super flyweight interim champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire says he expects Pacquiao to win by a twelve round decision and the chances of winning by a knockout are about 30 percent.

Diaz, who came back from the loss to Pacquiao on June 28, 2008 to win a majority decision over former WBC and IBF lightweight champion and WBC super featherweight champion Jesus Chavez last September 26 said he is “feeling good and f eels blessed to get another opportunity to fight for the world title. I am getting ready and hope everything will go right.”

He said the almost six months break since the Chavez fight wont affect him since he has been sparring a lot and while its not the same thing Diaz said “I think I’ll be okay.”

Diaz has been training under Mike Garcia and Jim Strickland in Chicago and said although Sotto “is a tough guy but I’ll work that body and try to get inside of him. He’s a real good technician in the way he uses his reach but if you get inside of that and work him I think we’ll be okay.”

Diaz recalled how well he was treated when he was Pacquiao’s guest along with Edwin Valero at Pacquiao’s lavish 30th birthday celebration in his hometown of General Santos City in December 2008. He said “they were all very nice and give them my best wishes.”

Author: Ronnie Nathanielsz

Source: PhilBoxing.com

Pacquiao’s Challenger Clottey Follows in Footsteps of Warriors

ARLINGTON, Tex. — Even here, with Saturday’s welterweight title fight in Cowboys Stadium, with nearly 45,000 seats sold, withManny Pacquiao defending his latest world championship, the fight that fell apart looms over the proceedings.

Every day, someone asks Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, about the other fight, the dream bout between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxing’s undisputed kings. Roach gets that question in grocery stores and shopping malls, from Magic Johnsonand the celebrities who train at his Wild Card Boxing Club, even from a waiter at an ice lounge in Los Angeles.

“I was wearing an Eskimo hat,” Roach said. “Same question. Everybody wants to see that fight.”

Instead, Pacquiao will face Joshua Clottey under the most jumbo of all JumboTrons, in the fight few wanted except for the participants, none more so than Clottey. To get here, he survived poverty in Africa, career turmoil and four years spent out of boxing, all to become the latest challenger from the most unlikely of boxing hotbeds.

Pacquiao travels in a luxury bus with his image plastered on the side. On Thursday, Clottey rode to Cowboys Stadium in a hotel shuttle van. Pacquiao houses his sizable entourage in two homes in Los Angeles. Clottey lives in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx.

Clottey lives a simple life, born out of necessity, buoyed by boxing, each of his 32 years defined by struggle and by spirit.

“I have the mentality of a warrior,” he said. “I love to be in the ring.”

Clottey grew up in Accra, Ghana, a place he described with two words: small and poor. His father worked in road construction, earning barely enough money to care for six children and Clottey’s mother.

Clottey grew up in a house with one room. As many as 10 people stayed there at a time, sharing a single bed, sleeping in shifts.

Clottey, part of the Ga tribe, grew up in a neighborhood called Bokum. He said the Ga fancied themselves as warriors, and that translated naturally to boxing.

“There is no help from nowhere,” Clottey said. “That makes you a harder boy. You have to be hard. Because if you don’t do that, you’re not going to eat.”

Boxing reigned in Bokum, like football in Texas or basketball in Harlem. Except, instead of pickup basketball, the boys in Bokum had pickup boxing.

Clottey said his neighborhood was split into seven areas, each with its own gym. He used the word “gym” loosely, because fights often took place on concrete, inside a thin rope, without hand wraps and with torn, mangled gloves. “Like there,” Clottey said, pointing to a dilapidated parking lot.

From this warrior mentality sprung dozens of warriors, the modern-day kind who fought their battles inside makeshift boxing rings. All the fighters — from the featherweight champion Azumah Nelson to the bruising welterweight Ike Quartey, among others — came from this small, poor place.

Many boxing champions have risen from similar circumstances, but the concentrated volume made Bokum different. Boxers became the area’s chief export.

“Manny Pacquiao’s poverty makes an American kid’s poverty look like luxury,” said the promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing. “From what I’ve heard, Clottey’s poverty makes Manny’s poverty look like luxury.”

Throughout his career, Clottey carried with him the spirit from the neighborhood. He endured a disastrous stretch in England, where he said he never faced top competition. He returned to Ghana, where he began plotting his big break — which was available only in the United States.

He arrived in 2003, broke, and landed in the Bronx, minutes from Yankee Stadium. The first time his manager, Vinny Scolpino, watched Clottey spar, Scolpino had never so much as heard of him.

“I didn’t know him from a hole in the wall,” Scolpino said. “Joshua Clottey was nobody, basically, just another 10-round fighter. I always thought he had something, a spark. Maybe because he had so little, he needed something.”

Clottey compiled a 35-3 record, with 21 knockouts, and his losses came against world champions. He beat Zab Judah. He lost by close decision to Antonio Margarito, despite fighting with a pair of broken hands. In his most recent fight, last June, he lost bycontroversial split decision to Miguel Cotto.

None of those fighters knocked Clottey down, or cut him, or left any mark other than three losses on his record. The only mark on Clottey is the tattoo he had inked a few weeks back, his initials interlocked with boxing gloves on his right forearm.

Roach predicted Pacquiao would become the first fighter to “stop” Clottey, to end the fight before the scorecards are tallied. Clottey responded: “Why would Manny Pacquiao knock me out? That surprises me. He can’t knock me out with punches.”

After the Cotto fight, Arum consoled an emotional Clottey in the dressing room by promising bigger future fights. Neither Scolpino nor Clottey envisioned what came next, when the Mayweather negotiations fell apart because of blood testing and Clottey landed the biggest of all bouts.

All week, these fighters tossed compliments at each other. Pacquiao called Clottey a gentleman and a “nice guy.” Clottey, while vowing to attack the smaller, quicker Pacquiao, lauded his place in boxing history.

Scolpino believes his fighter can shock Pacquiao on Saturday. He pronounced Clottey to be in the best shape of his career and said, “If he comes out with a ‘W,’ man, he’s on top of the world.”

If Pacquiao wins, and Mayweather defeats Shane Mosley on May 1, negotiations are expected to resume for the fight that would transcend boxing. But first, Pacquiao must topple Clottey, a fighter familiar with long odds.

“People have lost sight of Clottey because of the Mayweather stuff,” Arum said. “He’s never had the exposure. He’s never been a network favorite. But people who say this is going to be a walk in the park for Pacquiao are crazy.”

Inside Cowboys Stadium on Thursday, Clottey leaned forward in the stands, his eyes fixed on the scoreboard that read “Pacquiao-Clottey, The Event.” Clottey had secured the fight he always wanted. For him, Mayweather-Pacquiao could wait.

Author: GREG BISHOP

Source: nytimes.com