By Michael Marley, Examiner.com
ARLINGTON, TEXAS--Manny Pacquiao's will to win is unquenchable.
Joshua Clottey, who uses a prevent defense with his hands held high and tight, does not have that kind of thirst for great victories.
But his gloves did take a wicked beating from Pacquiao.
A huge crowd of 51,000 and millions watching around the world on TV evidenced that.
An irritated Clottey trainer Lenny DeJesus said, "Joshua had the power to knock Manny out but he was reluctant to punch. I don't think we really won a round."
They saw a 36-minute exercise that was not memorable except for the high-punching output of the Pinoy Idol.
Compubox numbers show the dispaarity in effort: Pacman threw 1,231 total punches and connected on 246 while the uninspired Ghanaian offered 399 punches and landed a mere 108.
Pacman was jab conscious, thrusting his southpaw right lead hand 549 times but the stat sheet said he only landed 14 of those cleanly. By contrast, Clottey firewd 162 of his left jabs and they say he connected on 26 of them.
In power punches, Manny threw 682 to Clottey's 237 with Manny landing 232 to Clottey's miniscule 82.
The bottom line here?
Long stretches of boredom. Manny kept trying to get Clottey to open but the challenger's offense was nothing but sporadic.
I wouldn't blame Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Shane Mosley if they both shut off their TV sets after watching the desultory effort of Clottey.
Manny had a sparring partner from Ghana who gave him a better fight than Clottey did, really.
Pacman earned his 51st professional victory at Cowboys Stadium Saturday night over Joshua Clottey and now heads back to the Philippines to get his Congressional campaign rolling .
I told you all that the "L" in Clottey stands for loser. A lovable loser I concede, but still a loser.
He's the good company man that promoter Bob Arum thought he he was and he showed no clear intention of upsetting Top Rank's big-time plans for its biggest superstar.
Judge Duane Ford had it 120-108, Levin Martinez pegged it 119-109 and Nelson Vazquez called it by a similar margin.
Sitting at ringside, I had it also by a 119-109 margin.
The fight had very few exciting moments despite Pacquiao giving it repeated efforts. He was fighting a guy who was not there to take any serious risks, to gamble for a spectacular upset.
That's Joshua, the good company man. Arum was right on Wednesday when he told me, "Clottey is a good loser!"
Such stirring drama is not in Clottey's emotional makeup, plain and simple.
I think Pacquiao electoral opponent Roy Chiongbian will throw a helluva lot more punches at Manny than Clottey did.
Hey, don't blame Manny because the other guy came to last the 12-round distance.
On to either Mayweather or Mosley...
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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