By Ed Anderson, Examiner.com
If Manny Pacquiao is running for a political seat in the Philippines he should be gunning for secretary of defense and appoint Freddie Roach, Buboy Fernandez and Alex Ariza to head up his army.
I was on the fence about flying to Dallas for this one but opted to stay in Boston and join some friends at 21 Nickels bar and Grill in Watertown, MA. I am happy I did.
We all know the outcome of the shutout in Cowboy stadium last night. Instead of boring you with the details of this lopsided decision. I will shed some insight on the brilliance and preparation that went in to making this Pacquiao victory look easy.
Joshua Clottey had a few things working against him. While his ring entrance oozed confidence you have to assume that 50,000 screaming Pacquiao fans will put a few butterflies in the knees of even the most seasoned ex-champions.
My 8countnews.com colleague Peter Czymbor predicted a first round knockdown delivered by Clottey with a late round stoppage in Pacquiao’s favor . Czymbor’s predictions are usually spot on but not this time.
Clottey maintained a very conservative defense and took absolutely no chances. I believed he was simply feeling Pacquiao out and would open up by the fourth round. Each round was like a recurring bad dream for boxing fans. Clottey covered up most of the round and attempted to wake up every now and then without delivering much if any damage on Pacquiao. Even ringside commentator Jim Lampley felt it necessary to try and make the fight more interesting by screaming, BANG, BANG, BANG as Pacquiao sliced Clottey with a series of body punches. Lampley’s plea to cause excitement wasn’t convincing to anyone. The only one who would make this a real fight was team Clottey. It took me a few rounds to understand what was really going on here and I believe half the battle was lost in his corner.
While Clotteys regular coach was stuck in Ghana due to visa issues, he brought in ex- Pacquiao cut-man Lenny DeJesus. In a post fight interview DeJesus acted confident by boasting that he knew how to beat Pacquiao and how the champion has not changed his style in the past five years.
Flashing back to the three days I spent watching Pacquiao train for this fight it all started to make sense.
While I was snapping photos of Manny’s sparring sessions I was getting a little aggravated at the fact that all the pictures I was capturing was of him getting hit. Pacquiao seemed to be laying back, holding his guard high and allowing jabs to pepper his face every now and then. My initial thought was that he was not training as hard for this fight, especially when he would cup his mitts around the head of his sparring partner, playing with him. In retrospect it seemed as if Pacquiao was climbing into the skin of Clottey and role playing his style to better understand the mind of his opponent.
If that was the case then it worked brilliantly. You may have even noticed Pacquiao being warned for using two hands to play with Clotteys head just like he was doing in training. It’s wasn’t dirty. Pacquiao was simply bored with his opponent.
To make matters worse, DeJesus really didn’t have an answer for his fighter. In one round he simply said to Clottey “ You have to do something” . There was no solid advice as how to get in on Pacquiao, nothing.
While Clottey may have blown his chance at super stardom , I give him credit for going the distance. No fault to Manny, this fight was mearly a giant sparring match for him. Bring on Mayweather!
Special thanks to Sean Gavin , 21 Nickles crew and Boston Boxing Club’s Ed LaVache for their hospitality
Source: examiner.com
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