Joshua Clottey is confident he will be able to deal with Manny Pacquiao's furious punch output when they meet at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.
Ghana's Clottey, 35, is challenging for the Philippine superstar's WBO welterweight crown.
Clottey said: "It doesn't matter if he throws 1,000 punches if I'm blocking them. I don't waste punches."
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said: "Blocking punches doesn't win fights. We can stop him in the later rounds."
The 31-year-old Pacquiao only ended up fighting Clottey after his proposed super-fight with Floyd Mayweather fell through, but the five-weight world champion said he was "inspired to give a good show" for an estimated 45,000 crowd.
"There's no stage big enough for Manny Pacquiao," added Roach. "He loves it, and I love it. He'll entertain all 45,000, he'll entertain everybody.
"The accumulation of punches Clottey will be taking in this fight he's never seen before. I don't think he'll be able to handle it."
Clottey, a former IBF welterweight champion, has 35 wins and three losses from 39 fights and has never been knocked out. He was beaten on a split decision by Miguel Angel Cotto last time out, the man Pacquiao dismantled so ruthlessly in his last outing.
The bout is the first at the new $1.2 billion (£800m) stadium and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declared himself more than happy to be showcasing Pacquiao v Clottey rather than Pacquiao v Mayweather.
"This is the first fight ever in this stadium and to have an individual like Manny Pacquiao fighting here is everything I had hoped would be a part of this stadium," Jones said.
Meanwhile, promoter Bob Arum has laughed off suggestions Pacquiao is planning to walk away from the sport to concentrate on his political ambitions - Pacquiao will begin campaigning for election to Congress in his homeland on 26 March.
It’s good for the fight game, the state of Texas, Manny Pacquiao, the NFL, beer vendors, parking lot attendants and Jerry Jones, the guy who built what promoter Bob Arum calls, “the most phenomenal building I‘ve ever been in.”
Approximately 45,000 fight fans will be visiting it soon.
That’s how many are expected to shuffle into Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night to see Pacquiao show off his skills against Joshua Clottey, an under-gunned, under-appreciated long shot from Ghana, who could become the biggest name in boxing if he can only pull off a miracle upset.
But there are bigger things going on here than just a prize fight. There’s a bigger reward here than a welterweight title. Ask Arum. He’ll tell you how this kind of fight in this kind of place with this kind of visibility can help get boxing back on its feet. And that’s good news, even for Vegas, where Arum calls home.
“You get stale doing the same thing over and over again, going back to casinos to put on these big events,” Arum said on a conference call with Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. “With this event coming to a fabulous stadium like Cowboys Stadium - bringing the fights to the people - I think boxing can once again establish it’s place as one of the major sports in this country as it is in so many other places in the world.”
Arum has done this kind of thing before. He promoted the Muhammad Ali - Cleveland Williams fight in the Houston Astrodome in 1966. He remembers seeing the Astrodome for the first time, saying how it “blew me away.“ Now, 45 years later, he’s still getting blown away, still bringing it to another Texas football stadium, this one in Dallas.
But it’s not only Texas. In June, Arum will be promoting a fight in the newly built Yankee Stadium, a 154-pound match between Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto.
Arum says moving fights around the country and into some of the more spacious venues will help bring boxing back to it’s former high status in this country.
Asked if Saturday’s fight was being overshadowed by the venue, Arum kind of shrugged it off.
“I think I’ll experience the same thing in June (with the Cotto-Foreman),” he said.
As for Jones, he says he’s always been a fight fan and if he was going to open up his new 1.3 billion playhouse to the fight game, he was going to make sure he got the best fight out there, presented by the best promoter.
“We don’t want to deal with anything but the top,“ Jones said. “I’m only going to be working and associating with the best. When you put this much money into a stadium, you want visibility. And this is going to be big time. We need to give boxing more exposure.“
A big-time fight in Cowboys Stadium will sure help. According to Arum, there were just over 4,000 tickets left to be sold as of Tuesday.
“As far as a Las Vegas fight, this is much more exciting,” Arum said. “I love Las Vegas. I live in Las Vegas. But in a Las Vegas fight, the tickets are limited by the size of the arena, and they generally go to high rollers. Here, the sales pitch is for the public. It’s completely different from a casino setting. Here, the venue plays as big a role as the fighters in selling the event.
Arum says going to the larger venues and moving the big fights around the country will help the sport. He said the Super Bowl wouldn’t be as big as it is if it was held in the same city every year.
Jones became involved in the fight by simply calling Arum and putting in a bid to hold the fight in his stadium. Arum calls him the best promoter he‘s ever worked with.
“He’s unbelievable,” he said. “He never gets tired. We did a two-day trip to Mexico and he was able to drink everyone under the table, and he just kept going. He never stopped, doing dozens of interviews with the Mexican media.”
Jones said he and his wife used to travel all over the country to watch guys like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler fight. When he bought the Cowboys, he cut down on his road trips.
Like Arum, Jones said a stadium fight with 45,000 people can only help the fight game.
“I made my mind up in building this stadium and making the commitment I made, that I was not going to get out here and not be associated with the best,” he said. “I‘m working with only the best and dealing with only the best. This is going to be big time. I’m going to over deliver. I’m really aligned here with boxing. I have all the respect in the world for boxing. But I always thought it needed more exposure.“
As for holding future fights in Cowboys Stadium, the two men are going to wait until after Saturday night.
“We want to get this fight over first,” Arum said. “Once this one is over, Jerry and I will sit down and plot the future.”
Joshua Clottey was in his native Ghana in January not even thinking about boxing when he got the call from manager Vinny Scolpino. The Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. negotiations had imploded and Pacquiao needed an opponent to face.
Top Rank, which promotes Pacquiao and Clottey, was offering Clottey, a former welterweight titlist, the opportunity to make a seven-figure payday by challenging Pacquiao for his title.
Clottey, admittedly a great admirer of the pound-for-pound king, quickly accepted the chance of a lifetime and will fight Pacquiao on Saturday night (HBO PPV, $49.95) at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
As Clottey and Scolpino went about setting up the training camp, Clottey hoped to reunite with trainer Godwin Kotey, from whom he had split in 2004.
Clottey (35-3, 21 KOs) had parted ways with trainer Kwame Asante last year following his close decision loss to Miguel Cotto in June, and he wanted Kotey to return to his corner.
Kotey agreed, and after a brief media tour to promote the fight, Clottey returned to Ghana to help Kotey secure a visa that would allow him to come to the United States for training camp and the fight. However, Kotey was denied.
When Clottey found out that Kotey would not be able to enter the United States after a clampdown on visas following an attempted airliner bombing on Christmas Day, he wept.
"It is true," Clottey said of his reaction to the news.
Clottey said he couldn't wait for the visa situation to be ironed out "because I have to get ready to fight and my life is on the line."
That left Clottey, the substitute fighter against Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), to find a substitute trainer.
Enter Lenny De Jesus, a 64-year-old New Yorker and locksmith by trade -- but a boxing lifer. De Jesus has been around the game for more than 40 years working on and off as a trainer, but mostly as cut man -- the role he performed in Clottey's corner for his past three bouts.
In February, De Jesus took over Clottey's Fort Lauderdale, Fla., camp as head trainer, and he will also serve as the cut man on Saturday night.
"In other fights, my cut man, Lenny, was pushing me a lot, so I thought I would use him as my trainer," Clottey said. "I have known Lenny, and he is a very good man. He was my cut man with Cotto. So my trainer could not get a visa and I picked [De Jesus] to be my trainer for this fight."
It is just a bonus that De Jesus is quite familiar with Pacquiao. De Jesus served as the fighter's cut man for six fights and believes his knowledge of Pacquiao can help in Clottey's quest for the upset.
"I really don't need to look at video of Manny Pacquiao. I worked enough of his fights and know how he fights," De Jesus said. "Manny will be Manny. You can teach a fighter certain things, and when you get hit and hurt you go back to your style. He has fought many fighters who were on top on the way down. [Clottey] is a strong, lean fighter. I'm going to bring the best out of him."
Of course, Pacquiao's cut man, Miguel Diaz, also has good knowledge of Clottey, having worked in his corner before De Jesus was part of the team.
Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer and a four-time trainer of the year, said De Jesus' past work with Pacquiao won't make a difference.
"He knows us pretty well, but we have changed a lot since then," Roach said. "He thinks he's going to face the old Manny Pacquiao, but that's not going to be the case. I respect him and he's a good boxing guy. Am I a better trainer? I don't know, but I have the better fighter. We have the perfect game plan, and I don't care who trains Joshua Clottey for this fight, he can't beat us. He is what he is. Let's face it: He fights the same way in every tape I watch. Whether he fights southpaws or right-handers, he is predictable.
"He's good at what he does, but he does the same thing over and over again and he is very predictable. He's going to try to change for this fight, but once he gets in he will revert back to it. We are 100-percent ready for his style. He is resilient. The beginning of the fight is going to be very hard because he is a very good opponent and he likes to fight. We will break him down, and I am confident the fight will not go 12 rounds."
By all accounts, the Clottey-De Jesus pairing has worked well so far, even if using a substitute trainer doesn't seem like the ideal way for Clottey to go into the biggest fight of his life, one in which he is a prohibitive underdog.
"I asked Joshua about that, and he and Lenny are getting along really well," said Top Rank's Bob Arum. "Lenny has taught him a lot of new things. Lenny has been around the sport for a long time. You know how much of boxing is mental. Joshua feels at ease and confident with him. Is Lenny De Jesus going to be mentioned in the same category as Freddie Roach? Of course not, but there are very few trainers who can be."
Scolpino said he is comfortable with De Jesus in the lead role and, more importantly, so is Clottey.
"Lenny is an old-school guy," Scolpino said. "Been around 40-plus years in the business. He's calm, cool and collected and has a lot of knowledge that Joshua has just been absorbing.
"He brings a wealth of experience, he knows the business, he knows what to do in the ring whether he's a cut man or whether he's a trainer. So we are comfortable. Joshua is comfortable with him and we are ready to rumble. Josh was training in Ghana with another trainer [Kotey] and we tried to get that trainer in, but we weren't sitting on the sidelines hoping and praying that that trainer would get in. We had plans. If the trainer joined us from Ghana, we would love it. Right now we are comfortable with what we have, and Josh is a true professional. Josh is so excited to get in that ring with Manny. We are ready to rumble."
De Jesus said Clottey has been a good student and a hard worker.
"Camp was good. We have a good respect between us," De Jesus said. "I don't talk too much. I see little mistakes and let Joshua know. He's been very good in camp. We've done about 90 good rounds [of sparring]. I think I got a chance, like anybody else [would], to win this fight. I know we're 4-to-1 to lose. That's good. It will motivate us some more."
Even if Kotey had made it stateside, Scolpino said De Jesus was going to be part of the camp. Now his role has just expanded.
"Whether Godwin came or not, Lenny was going to be there -- and as a bit more than just a cut man," Scolpino said. "It was always the plan to have Lenny in camp. We didn't sit there and wait to see if Godwin would get the visa. We were always prepared for the worst. We were hoping [Godwin] would be able to come. It is what it is. All I know is that this has been the best training camp I have ever seen, and the kid is in phenomenal shape. He wasn't even in this kind of shape for the Cotto fight."
Scolpino thinks the change of trainer has been refreshing for Clottey.
"I think it's a change of pace," Scolpino said. "I think everything is clicking. I am not just saying it. I have never seen this kid in such good shape. Just fabulous. Him and Lenny just hit it off. It just clicked. It's been a very good training camp."
Scolpino has known De Jesus for years. One of Scolpino's other fighters, former super middleweight titlist Alejandro Berrio, also has him as a trainer.
"He's not the most known guy, but he's trained guys. He's just never had anybody in this kind of spotlight before," Scolpino said.
A Clottey win, of course, would do wonders for De Jesus' reputation and significantly raise his profile. But when asked about that possibility, he downplayed the potential personal rewards.
"To me, it's the whole camp, not just me," De Jesus said. "Scolpino, the chef, the kid with the pads, all of us. It's going to be a good win for all of us. I'm a team player. I know it will put us all in a good position. I think we have a pretty good chance. I'm not overconfident, but I'm very excited. Fighting Manny Pacquiao comes once in a lifetime. You're fighting the pound-for-pound best guy on the planet.
"These guys will get in the ring and fight, and my job is to have a calm, collected corner so Joshua can listen to instructions and then go out there and do it. I will tell my kid if there is an opening and what to do."
But the fighting Filipino’s grip on his own people, and his mystique for those outside his own culture, grows exponentially.
Pacquiao now has an entourage of 140 – including his Jack Russell Terrier, ‘Pacman’. That is a larger following than Muhammad Ali ever had. They are all decked out in bespoke red adidas tracksuits and travel in a tour bus skinned with Pacquiao’s face. Wherever he goes, his countrymen move towards him like fireflies in the night lured to a flame. It is hard to think of a sporting icon worldwide who enjoys such … love, from his people.
But Pacquiao is also loved by television executives. He is fighting gold. Mark Taffett, senior vice-president of Home Box Office Sports and Pay-Per-View events, said Pacquiao had become “a megastar” a fact borne out by sales figures.
“Manny Pacquiao is spectacular in and out of the ring. He has taken part in 10 pay per view fights on HBO and generated 5.5 million buys, which created $290 million in revenue. In his last three fights he averaged over one million pay-per-view buys. That alone makes him a pay-per-view megastar. Manny Pacquiao has helped boxing expand beyond the sports pages, into mainstream magazines, and mainstream television.”
Jerry Jones, the owner and general manager of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium which stages Saturday's fight, admitted that he has always been “hands on” in the business.
“This stadium was not for me, not for the players, but for the fans. The fans are the club.” It is expected to be a sell-out crowd on the first fight night ever staged at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, although boxing has been sanctioned in Texas for 79 years by their athletic commission. It is also the first time that HBO have shown boxing from a stadium on PPV, which could signal a new direction for the broadcasting giant.
Jones, who put down a $7 million site fee for ‘The Event’, as it is has been named, said there are a few hundred seats available for the 45,000 capacity stadium. Jones, of course, had originally proffered a $25 million site fee, the largest in boxing history, for Pacquiao-Mayweather to take place here on this date. That would've demanded double the gate, even up to 100,000, to make it financially viable.
If the glazed floor, ultra-comfortable seats, and airiness of the domed monolith to sport were not enough, the two combatants will be 72ft high when they enact their brutal dance on Saturday night, presented on the largest screens in the world. They are also in high definition. The two protagonists have promised a dance fitting of the venue and the occasion. It will have to be.
Bob Arum, who once promoted Muhammad Ali and who says Pacquiao has the same hold over people, said: "He [Pacquiao] has grown up in life after running away from home, fighting for a dollar a time, dedicating his life to his sport, and becoming an icon.
“An even greater story is that he hasn't lost his humanity. With the storm, corruption and poverty in his country, he wants to change that. Be something different. I hope this is the last pre-fight press conference where I introduce him as plain old Manny Pacquiao. I want to introduce him as congressman Manny Pacquiao."
What typified the final head-to-head news conference between Pacquiao and Clottey was the absence of trash talking – and a mention of Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
Yet there were plenty of huddles afterwards when Pacquiao, Arum and Roach were asked for their opinions on whether arguably the richest fight in history will ever happen. The answer was the same. Todd DeBoeuf had the most telling reply. “If you want a fight to happen, you make it happen.” The suggestion is that Mayweather, deep down, does not really want this fight with Pacquiao.
"Both sides have not done any trash talking," said Pacquiao, who defends the World Boxing Organisation welterweight title. "We can be a good example to everybody." Clottey concurred "We have a great deal of respect for each other. But nobody has every beat me or cracked me. I want to see what he can do."
The billionaire football team owner seems to love all this.
Days leading into the big fight of Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey, rumors strewed that Jerry Jones has made arrangements to score Pacquiao's next fight at his billion-dollar world-class Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
But it's no secret that Jones would love that.
Perhaps pleased by the turnout that the fight is generating (reports appear that the event is closed to a sellout), Jones said, "Should it ever work out as a great fight then we'd like to be right there to promote another one."
Watching a workhorse Pacquiao train at an open workout, Jones hopes that "this is not the last time we'd host a Pacquiao fight."
A $25 million offer by Jones was not enough of a bid to secure Pacquiao's cancelled megafight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. This stoked him to push harder for Pacquiao's next fight. His willingness to dig into his pocket of fortunes from the oil and gas exploration is because of the Filipino boxing superstar.
"The main reason I wanted the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was Manny. He is the draw. So, certainly when that didn't work I still had the interest of getting him here at all cost. Whoever he decided to fight," according to Jones.
"Manny Pacquiao transcends everything, including himself, not only as a great athlete but as a great person," Jones said, speaking of Pacquiao's phenomenon.
Bob Arum has been promoting boxing events for more than 40 years. He's worked with a Who's Who in boxing - Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has always been one of the boldest and most innovative risk takers in the NFL. His latest high-stakes gamble is the new Cowboys Stadium, a $1.2 billion palace in Arlington, Tex.
Arum and Jones, two of the shrewdest men in their professions, have teamed up to stage a 12-round welterweight match between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night.
Arum and Jones have underlying motives for holding this fight at Cowboys Stadium, which will be scaled down to 45,000 fans with the lowest price ticket being $20. Jones wants to showcase his stadium as a sports and entertainment mecca. Last month it was the site of the NBA All-Star game. Next year Cowboys Stadium will host the Super Bowl and, in 2012, it will be the site for the NCAA Final Four.
For Arum, this is about trying to increase the popularity of boxing, which has become a niche sport - the best matches mainly being held in casinos and available to the masses on Pay-Per-View or premium cable networks.
"In Las Vegas, fight tickets are limited generally to the high-roller types," Arum said. "Here the tickets go to regular customers."
Arum has promoted boxing matches at the old Yankee Stadium and the Houston Astrodome in the 1970s when boxing was as popular as the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball.
But times have changed for the sport, and Arum is partly responsible for that. A Las Vegas resident, Arum has gotten fat off the largess of the Vegas casinos and the cable networks with his promotions the last couple of decades. To that end, he and the other big-time promoters have contributed to the shrinking audience for boxing.
But give Arum credit for attempting to pull the sport back from the brink and making an effort to bring it to the regular sports fan. He plans to hold the WBC junior middleweight title match between Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto at Yankee Stadium on June 3. And he wants to hold a match between Yuriokus Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez at the new Giants Stadium in 2011.
Jones is on board with Arum trying to bring boxing back to the masses. He believes boxing and football have a natural connection. If you walk into an NFL locker room, you don't have to meet too many players before finding a boxing fan.
"The NFL is reluctant to crossover with other sports," Jones said. "But in a very obvious way, when we compete in Cowboys Stadium, the sports and non-sports people will recognize the crossover interest, and that excites me.
"We all know how popular the NFL is and it raises all boats. I'm getting short on time and I want to create some action while I'm still in the ring."
Arum and Jones don't believe that holding boxing events at large stadiums will hinder boxing in Las Vegas. Arum cited the fact that the Super Bowl is held in different cities each year as an example of how that has helped to keep the NFL popular. Jones believes that having thousands of fans see live boxing will increase the sport's popularity.
"We're the most visible programming in all of television," Jones said of the Cowboys and the NFL. "Vicariously, these fights can benefit from that. This is not a bad thing for Las Vegas. This is a good thing."
Once you get the fans under the tent, no matter how big or its location, you have to give them a significant and compelling match.
Arum and Jones missed out on that when a potential match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao fell apart. Now they have Pacquiao-Clottey, which isn't as significant. If Pacquiao and Clottey put on a good show and Jones is really committed to holding more boxing events at his stadium, it could jump-start a movement to push boxing back into the mainstream. But it is an uphill push.
Reporting from Arlington, Texas - Manny Pacquiao's financial advisor in the Philippines says the world-champion boxer has invested an estimated $5 million into winning a congressional seat in the country, an effort that is more than likely headed to a defeat.
"I'm not going to use the term longshot, but … it motivates Manny to know he's not expected to come through," Pacquiao's U.S. business advisor, Michael Koncz, said Wednesday as Pacquiao and his Saturday night opponent, Joshua Clottey, held a news conference at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Pacquiao's attempt to win the congressional seat in the Philippine province of Sarangani faces the stiff opposition of Roy Chiongbian, the son of a powerful political patriarch who helped create the country's large General Santos City. Manila News reporter Nick Giongco, in Texas for Pacquiao's bout, compared Chiongbian's name recognition in Sarangani to "Kennedy and Bush here in this country."
"I know I have to work hard and campaign," Pacquiao said. "From what I hear so far, the surveys [polls] are good."
Yet, Pacquiao's political friends and close advisors, including financial advisor Rex "Wakee" Salud, said they tried to express the reality of the political challenge to Pacquiao. The boxer has spent the past eight weeks in the U.S. training for his WBO welterweight title defense against Clottey while Chiongbian is in the Philippines preparing for the May 20 election.
"It's his decision; we don't know if he'll win" the election, Salud said. "Everybody has advised him that he's probably not going to win, but that's what he wants to do. He wants to help the poor, and he thinks there's no better way to do that than in politics."
Pacquiao has previously sought and failed to win an elected office in the Philippines. In the earlier campaign Pacquiao was hampered by poor organization, Koncz said, and the voters' desire to keep their sporting icon out of the controversial political arena.
"He's still up against it, but at least this [run] is better planned out," Koncz said. "We learned last time, without planning, you have no chance."
Pacquiao has said he wants to assist his countrymen as they struggle with weak education, health care and poverty, as he did in his youth. He has told Philippine reporters that political office is his best chance to do so. But if he's not elected, Pacquiao said, "In the eyes of God, I'm at peace. I know I've tried to help."
Pacquiao plans to return to Manila by March 22 and immediately begin an intense campaign to topple "the well-greased machines" of Chiongbian, Koncz said.
Political defeat would be good news for those who want Pacquiao to continue boxing. Last week, his trainer, Freddie Roach, speculated to The Times that a political victory and resistance by Floyd Mayweather Jr. to stage a mega-bout could make Saturday's bout Pacquiao's final fight.
Yet, Pacquiao said Wednesday that, "I don't think this will be my last fight," and Koncz said even if Pacquiao does upset Chiongbian, "It will only probably cut back his fight schedule from three fights a year to one or two."
Neutral corner
Texas has selected Rafael Ramos to serve as referee for the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, and the judges will be Duane Ford of Nevada, Levi Martinez of New Mexico and Nelson Vazquez of Puerto Rico.
Ramos worked the entertaining Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight in Houston in 2009, a bout that Martinez judged.
Ford is a veteran official who judged Pacquiao's victories over Miguel Cotto and his 2008 split-decision win over Marquez, a bout that Ford gave to Pacquiao, 115-113. Vazquez has been assigned to Shane Mosley's past two bouts.
Concert tour
Koncz said Pacquiao will earn more than $100,000 to perform in concert March 21 at Hawaii's Waikiki Shell venue, with plans to extend the "concert tour" to Canada (Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver) during the third week of June.
Pacquiao's singing sprouted from karaoke at home to appearances on Philippine talk shows to a post-fight concert after he defeated Miguel Cotto in November, to last week's appearance on " Jimmy Kimmel Live."
"Our contract requires a 35-minute performance in Hawaii," Koncz said. "But we'll go beyond that, for sure."
ARLINGTON – Love bloomed inside Cowboys Stadium on Wednesday afternoon as Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey exchanged verbal bouquets three days before they are scheduled to trade punches in their welterweight title bout.
Instead of trying to sell tickets and boost pay-per-view sales with trash talk, Pacquiao and Clottey were nothing but complimentary of each other at the final news conference before Saturday night's fight.
"I want to thank Manny Pacquiao for the opportunity he has given me," said Clottey, the challenger from Ghana who went on to declare, "I really like him."
Countered Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines: "Joshua Clottey is a nice person. ...We will try our best to give people a good fight and make them happy."
And on and on the fighters went for most of the hourlong news conference held on a Cowboys Stadium concourse. Elementary school class elections produce more venom.
Promoter Bob Arum, who brought the fight to Jerry Jones' stadium, gave his blessing to the serene scene.
"Athletes that respect each other makes the sport," Arum said. "I say it's the trash-talking guys that kill this sport."
Ticket sales surpass 40,000: About 42,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday night's fight, which is scheduled to include at least eight bouts on the undercard. With the upper deck already curtained off, plans had been to sell 45,000 tickets. But if demand exceeds seats, standing-room party passes may be sold on the day of the fights. ...Every bout on the undercard features at least one Hispanic fighter. ... Plans are in the works to have Cowboys Stadium host its second fight card during the home team's bye week during the 2010 NFL season. Arum said the card could include undefeated middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of Mexico's most iconic boxer, and Kelly Pavlik, whose only loss has been to Bernard Hopkins.
Jones has rival for his lateness: Jerry Jones, who sat on the dais alongside Pacquiao, is notoriously known for habitual tardiness for Cowboys news conferences. But his reputation for being late is nothing compared with that of Pacquiao, who arrived almost 45 minutes late Wednesday, way later than the prompt Jones, who has been giddy throughout fight week. ... Perhaps Jones has been smiling because of the celebrity his stadium has gotten. Arum introduced the fighters as "the pride of Africa" and "the pride of Asia" meeting in "America's best stadium."
What type of praise would be appropriate for Cowboys Stadium? You enter this gleaming, domed enormity after having been exposed to such unrelenting hype you almost want to hate it just to be different. Or, if you will, “dif’rnt.”
But Cowboys Stadium is as staggeringly impressive as advertised, even as it advertises itself with an LED screen that is as big as, well, Boulder City. This stadium is so brilliantly over-the-top, with its mirrored exterior, let-the-sunshine-in retractable roof and 110,000-seat capacity, that if CityCenter were to incorporate a sports venue, Cowboys Stadium would be that place.
At a cost of $1.2 billion, it would just about put the cost of CityCenter to an even $10 billion. So when Jerry Jones asks, “What do you think of the place?” complaining that the rest rooms are a little difficult to locate seems pointless.
“Amazing,” is all you can say, shaking your head. “Love the screen.”
Like a Manny Pacquiao right jab, the stadium’s signature effect nearly knocks you off your spindles as you enter. The famous high-def video board spans to each 20-yard line of a football field, when a football field is actually unrolled along the floor of the big beast. But today, staging crews on the ground and operating very tall cranes cranked away on the metal skeleton that would be the ring and seating for Saturday night’s Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey WBO world welterweight title bout.
These guys pack a punch, but they are not big, and never seemed more diminutive as they were as they were engulfed by the splendor of the stadium they will half-fill on Saturday.
“I want to thank Jerry Jones for bringing this fight to this stadium,” Pacquiao said in his brief comments from the glass podium. “Without Jerry Jones, there would be no fight here. It wouldn’t happen.”
Top Rank chief Bob Arum made note of a pair of startling names on the guest list for Saturday’s fight card: UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and the organization’s president, Dana White. As Arum said, the two are encouraging UFC fans to buy into the fight’s pay-per-view package, an impressive diplomatic move considering Arum once compared UFC fights to gay erotica (as a means of criticism, not praise, mind you). “We want to thank Dana and Lorenzo for crossing sports to help promote this fight,” Arum said, as Jones, the guy who helped make that unlikely visit happen, nodded from the dais.
For sure, Jones is entering the fight game – and in the process competing with Las Vegas for some of boxing's premier events – with all the delicacy of a Walt Garrison off-tackle blast. His approach is simple: build a the largest domed facility in the world, throw a saddlebag full of cash across the table and say, “Do we have us a deal, or not?”
Jones is nothing if not eager to fill seats and finance this billion-dollar bowl o’ fun, which was financed largely through credit.
“We want all events here, any events that will fill seats,” he said after the news conference. “The Dallas Cowboys only play a set amount of games, but boxing you can do many, many times, and I’m interested in putting as many fights as possible in here. How many? I can’t yet say. But we are interested.”
Ever a showman who often seems to have learned the art of promotion from the knee of P.T. Barnum, Jones secured a flag team and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders today to usher the fighters into the stadium. For a press conference.
Of Jones, Arum has said it’s a good thing the Cowboys owner wasn’t around a generation ago when Arum and Don King were kings of dueling empires in the fight game. Jones might have taken the whole sport for himself.
Luckily for Arum, the Jerry Jones of today is all too happy to share the wealth.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
Manny Pacquiao will fight Joshua Clottey on Saturday night in an airplane construction hangar known as Cowboys Stadium. Think of two Staples Centers, placed side by side, with a retractable roof, and you've got it. The people at Boeing are green with envy.
If Texas truly wants us to believe everything is bigger here, then with this, it wins.
Such is the backdrop for the match.
But this is boxing, and a bigger fight is going on outside the ring. Bob Arum, president of Top Rank, called Saturday night's fight a "huge moment" for his sport, and he was referring to much more than punches in the ring.
Arum used the platform here to torch his largest competitor and, until recently, his business partners, Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions. Arum also directed cracks at the Las Vegas casinos, with whom he has been doing business for years, and at the Floyd Mayweather Jr. camp, which was represented in the failed Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations by Schaefer and Golden Boy.
It was a wide-ranging smackdown, clearly an aftershock of the Pacquiao-Mayweather controversy. Even for the ever-controversial and outspoken Arum, it was surprising in its depth of bitterness. Hollywood might want to grab this one for a reality series: Arum, a 78-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer, versus Schaefer, a 49-year-old former Swiss banker.
As recently as the December 2008 Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight, which made both sides filthy rich, the relationship was sugar and spice and everything nice. No more. The Vegas future book is expected to open soon with Arum a 2-1 favorite.
In an impromptu gathering here Wednesday, before the start of a news conference for the fight, Arum said the future of boxing was in big fights in big stadiums, such as Saturday night's. He mentioned Yankee Stadium, where he will promote a fight in June, and the Meadowlands in New Jersey as his prototypes, as well as more in Dallas.
"If boxing is to be big league — and it's not now — we have to put on these kinds of big events around the world," he said. "We can't be big league by putting on the same old casino fights.
"I look at these Vegas fights and I look ringside and all I see is people from Hong Kong. Nothing but guys from China. You aren't going to grow boxing's brand like that. The casinos don't give a damn about anything other than their customers, and it becomes a circus act."
He implied that he was pretty much out of business with the MGM Grand, where he has held the bulk of his big fights in recent years, because "Golden Boy is in bed with MGM."
Asked if he worried about upsetting Schaefer and Golden Boy with his comments, Arum, surrounded by about 10 writers, said, "…Golden Boy." Fill in your own profanity.
Schaefer, reached by telephone in Los Angeles, took the high road.
"It sounds like Bob is declaring war," Schaefer said. "I am sorry he feels like that. I respect him and Top Rank, and I won't get involved in this back-and-forth."
Arum, of course, is sly like a fox. He knows there are more ways of calling attention to a boxing match than praising the competitors at a news conference. He also knows that his line of pro-big-stadium, anti-casino talk will help endear him to new investors in the sport, such as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the man who built this most recent Texas treasure.
Most men Arum's age stop looking forward. At 78, he still has visions of grandeur. He talks about having fights in Jones' stadium that would headline Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who can't fight a lick but can sell tickets. He talks about getting a license in Texas for the suspended and disgraced Antonio Margarito, knowing that there might be enough Mexican support nearby to be worthy of a Cowboys Stadium match.
He is at his best as an attack dog. He heard of an incident last week in which TV reporter Chino Trinidad of GMA News in the Philippines was denied access to Mayweather at a Mayweather-Shane Mosley news media gathering in Los Angeles to promote their May 1 Las Vegas fight. Trinidad said he was told he would not get an interview — when all other members of the media could and did — because Mayweather wouldn't talk to Filipino reporters.
"That's racist," Arum said. "If anybody on my staff denied a reporter like that, they'd be gone."
It is also possible that Arum was merely setting the table for the next round of talks, post Pacquiao-Clottey and Mayweather-Mosley fights, for the boxing granddaddy of them all: Pacquiao-Mayweather.
Schaefer and Mayweather have said they won't fight at Cowboys Stadium. Negotiations to that end failed before. Perhaps if Arum makes them mad enough, they'll stop talking about steroids and the glory of Vegas fights and take on Pacquiao here just to make Arum shut up. Arum could act shocked and giggle all the way to the bank.
It is boxing. There is always a method to all the madness. And it is never dull.
With the first mega-fight of the year only days away, the stars are lining up to witness what some are saying will truly be “The Event” of the year. Pacquiao vs. Clottey, in the new home of the Dallas Cowboys, has drawn incredible interest across the vast majority of celebrities.
George W. Bush
Former U.S. President and Governor of Texas, George W. Bush is expected to attend the fight with his wife according to my fellow Examiner Marvin Dumon. Bush is expected to view the fight from the Luxury suite with Jerry Jones.
Dallas Cowboys
It’s no secret that there will be numerous past and present Dallas Cowboys attending the fight. Among some of the notables are former head coach Jimmy Johnson and HOF wide receiver Michael Irvin.
"I'm sitting right now with Michael Irvin who is anxiously awaiting Manny to come in and train so the answer is definitely yes. I've invited, and have received huge interest by, all of the former Dallas Cowboys as well as everybody that is on the team.” Jerry Jones, Las Vegas Sun
Other Boxers
According to Bob Arum, the following fighters will be in attendance Kelly Pavlik, Julio Cesar Chavez, Juan Manuel Lopez and Miguel Cotto. I’m sure there will be other past and present boxers in attendance as well.
Hollywood Stars
With all of the stars that attended Manny Pacquiao’s training at the Wild Card Gym, it should be no surprise that there will be a host of them at the fight. Actors like Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mark Wahlberg, Jeremy Piven, Ron Pearlman, and Mickey Rourke are some of the more notable stars to watch Pacquiao train and are expected to be in attendance for the fight.
Conclusion
Ashley Browning “Will Pacquiao vs. Clottey be the best fight of the year?”
It will definitely be an exciting fight because of Pacquiao. I can honestly say that I don’t think there will be a better fight atmosphere than this one. Hosting this fight in the Dallas Cowboys new stadium has created a huge buzz in addition to what the fighters bring to the table. Just look at the sample of “star power” that will be in attendance. Unless Pacman takes on Mayweather, I don’t see another fight coming close to this one. However, saying it will be the best fight of the year might be a stretch. I don’t see Clottey lasting past the 5th. I think Manny gets the TKO in the 5th round.
Manny Pacquiao's head trainer Freddie Roach was recently quoted in a few Philippine papers saying he believes his fighter, Manny Pacquiao, can knock out Joshua Clottey in nine rounds when they meet at Dallas Cowboys Stadium Saturday. As most boxing fans know Roach is one of Pacquiao's biggest advocates. Roach also said on a recent conference call that Manny will knock out Floyd Mayweather if they ever fight. Okay, we all get it -- Roach believes that Pacquiao is a special fighter. And Roach seems to be basically a standup guy so we can all live with what he says about most fighters.
However, promoter Bob Arum is another story. Arum really could convince eskimos that not only do they need ice, he's also the only one who can deliver really cold ice. On the conference call with team Clottey last week, Arum said that no one fight or fighter is bigger than the sport of boxing. And it's absurd that the boxing commission should change their protocol as to how fighters should be tested for performance enhancing drugs the way Floyd Mayweather wanted Manny Pacquiao tested in order to make a fight between them. Can you imagine what Arum would be saying about Pacquiao if he represented Floyd Mayweather? Talk about default guilt.
During the call Arum also said Manny Pacquiao is the greatest fighter he's ever seen during his time in boxing. Even greater than Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler. Obviously it must have slipped Bob's mind that he promoted a couple of Roberto Duran's fights some years back. Meaning if we exclude heavyweights from the pound-for-pound equation, Arum promoted at least two fighters that I'd rank above Pacquiao, in Duran and Leonard. So it all depends on which side of the table in which Arum sits as to what his take is on a particular situation or topic. Then again he's a promoter and his job is to make the case which sheds the best light on his vested interest at a given time.
Having said that, it doesn't mean Arum can't get it right sometimes when he's talking about a fight involving two of his fighters. And he did last week when he said in Philstar.com, “I don’t know how you’ll knock Clottey out. This fight is going to be harder than the Cotto fight because Clottey is more durable than Cotto.”
That's not what Arum was saying after Miguel Cotto won a razor close decision over Clottey last June to set up the Pacquiao-Cotto bout, but that was then and this is now. Only Arum is right about this one. Clottey has never been in trouble or on the verge of being stopped in his career. Whereas Cotto was hurt and dropped by other fighters before he faced Pacquiao.
“Clottey is bigger and stronger but Manny is a much better boxer, a much better athlete. And if Manny loses, I would be sorry for Manny. But that’s boxing and a lot of things can happen. Clottey is a very good and a very dangerous welterweight,” said Arum.
After hearing Arum speak about Clottey, it's easy to glean that he does have some legitimate trepidation about this fight. As he should. Despite Pacquiao being the better boxer with faster hands and the fact that he possesses the more sophisticated and varied offense, Clottey's physicality is something that shouldn't be overlooked. And just because Pacquiao is known to rise to the occasion in a big spot and Clottey's reputation is the opposite, Arum is smart enough to know that Clottey just may reach down and draw on everything he has and put it all together in what is surely the signature bout of his career. Especially after Clottey has been reminded repeatedly of how he didn't press Cotto enough down the stretch and that's what cost him the fight.
In fact Arum has even laid the groundwork for a rematch if Pacquiao were to be upended by Clottey. “If Clottey is successful then I would go immediately to Clottey who is under promotion to us and ask him to do a rematch. He’s not obligated but I would ask him for a rematch,” said Arum.
It's always hard to tell what Arum's true thoughts are because he's one of the better salesmen to ever promote professional boxing. But this time he gets the benefit of the doubt in expressing his genuine concern for his prized possession, Manny Pacquiao, regarding his upcoming fight with Joshua Clottey. Remember, this will not be a possibly drained Cotto who had to make 145. Clottey is being afforded the luxury of weighing in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, and very well may enter the ring above the middleweight limit of 160.
Clottey should provide Pacquiao with the toughest hurdle of his career, and that's an honest and legitimate take on the fight. Then again Arum may be talking up Clottey now because he's worried that Joshua isn't being seen as a genuine threat (and that will hurt in PPV buys.) Although promoting a rematch between the two guys would be lucrative for Arum, clearly it's a financial disaster for him if Clottey wins. There's nothing on the horizon that comes close to Pacquiao-Mayweather, and a Clottey win would wreck that. Having taken everything into consideration, I do believe Arum's concern and this fight isn't a gimmie for Pacquiao.
ARLINGTON, TEX -- It seems farfetched, but the lure of stardom could yet abort -- if not slightly delay -- Manny Pacquiao's entrance into the ring against Joshua Clottey on Saturday night -- that is, if the Filipino superstar who moonlights as a nightclub singer sees his large, face on the monstrous vide screen that will be over the ring at The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium.
Known for his penchant for holding post-fight concernts with his band -- not to mention most recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live -- Pacquiao hinted that he might just be tempted to break into song during his ring walk.
"I think I'm going to see my big face up there. I'm going to see people screaming," said Pacquiao, 31, during an interview with reporters at following a press conference at Dallas Cowboys' Stadium. "It's a big screen. I'm really excited and happy. We're going to play my band's songs while I'm walking into the ring."
If Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) were to do so, it would be indeed be another milestone for the first fighter to win seven titles in as many weight classes.
After stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round to earn the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title in November at the MGM Grand in Las Vegaas, Pacquiao held an impromptu concert down the strip at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
Pacqauiao had pulled a similar stunt following his May, 2009 second-round stoppage of Ricky Hatton in May in Las Vegas.
And in the aftermatch of Saturday's fight, assuming he wins, Pacquiao plans to do the same.
"I will have an after-fight party. Last night I practiced with my band. I'll practice tonight also," said Pacquiao.
"He's got a voice coach and everything. The MP band is here," said his trainer, Freddie Roach. "Manny's a performer. There's no stage big enough for Manny Pacquiao. He'll want to entertain all 4,500. He wants to entertain everybody. He loves it."
The Celtics walked into the TD Garden locker room on Wednesday night to find a big surprise from one of their biggest fans. Or, rather ... one of their smallest?
WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, the 5-foot-6 Filipino boxer known as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, delivered a stockpile of autographed boxing gloves to the Garden on Wednesday night. The C's arrived at the arena Wednesday to find an autographed one waiting in each of their lockers.
"Pacquiao's obviously a huge Celtics fan," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who also got a glove. "He tried to get to our shootaround before we played the Lakers [on Feb. 18] and he couldn't make it. So instead he just sent that to us, and it's nice. Good gesture."
The players seemed to enjoy the gloves, but they stopped short of actually pulling them on and using them. Perhaps that's for the best.
"Not on each other," Rivers joked.
Maybe not, but one way or another, the Celtics could use a little extra punch as they head down the home stretch this season. Perhaps the Celtics could find a little inspiration from Pac-Man.
Amir Khan, Britain’s WBA world light welterweight champion, and Vitali Klitschko, the WBC heavyweight champion, believe Manny Pacquiao, the first boxer to win world titles in seven weight divisions, should have been nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, taking place in Abu Dhabi. There were five shortlisted athletes.
I agree. Laureus’s two-part voting process starts with a selection panel of international media compiling a shortlist, before Laureus Academy members vote by secret ballot to select the winners.
I am one of those journalists on the panel, and I’m going to come clean. Manny Pacquiao was at the head of my submission list.
My list:
1.Manny Pacquiao (Boxing)
2 Lionel Messi (Soccer)
3 Usain Bolt (Athletics)
4 Georges St Pierre (MMA)
5 Kenenisa Bekele (Athletics)
6 Jamie Roberts (Wales & British and Irish Lions rugby centre)
Usain Bolt won the award.
“Manny is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world,” said Khan. “I’m very surprised he’s not on the list. In the last few years he’s fought [Juan Manuel] Marquez, Oscar [De la Hoya], Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. He’s had some big fights and I’m surprised he’s not a contender.”
“Few boxers get that level of publicity. If it was someone like Floyd Mayweather, who is a bigger name and attraction, then maybe [a nomination would be possible]. But although Manny is huge for what he has done in the game, there is that thing about his image which stops him being massive around the world.”
Klitschko agreed. “Champions like Pacquiao are bringing boxing to another level and the sport needs heroes. If I had the chance, as a boxer, I would have voted for Pacquiao, but it was never a situation – he wasn’t on the shortlist. There are a lot of champions around and you can’t give everyone an award. Still, it’s disappointing.”
This Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao will put his streak of brilliance on the line in one of the world’s most remarkable buildings. Four months ago the Dallas Cowboys’ brand new billion dollar stadium was poised to hold the long awaited showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather, but it was not to be. While boxing fans from all four corners of the globe were dejected when the fight was scrapped, Joshua Clottey was gleaming from ear to ear. The Ghana native steps into an opportunity of a lifetime on one of the biggest stages imaginable, and presents Manny Pacquiao with what some say will be his most demanding physical challenge to date.
Manny Pacquiao
Record: 50-3-2 (38 KO’s)
Former Flyweight, Super Bantamweight, Featherweight, Junior Lightweight, Lightweight, Junior Welterweight and current WBO Welterweight champion. Currently recognized as the number one fighter in the world pound for pound.
Age: 31
Home: General Santos City, Philippines
Notable wins: Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera
Notable losses: Erik Morales
Joshua Clottey
Record: 35-3 (20 KO’s)
Former WBO Welterweight champion
Home: Bronx, NY via Accra, Ghana
Age: 32
Notable wins: Diego Corrales, Zab Judah
Notable losses: Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Carlos Baldomir
Speed/Athletecism
Weighing the athleticism variable in a Pacquiao fight is almost a formality. There is only one man in boxing that can match the Pac Man’s athleticism and that’s Floyd Mayweather. Clottey is a strong, formidable opponent but as far as speed and athleticism will go this will be a mismatch. If Clottey is going to beat Manny Pacquiao it’s going to have to be by doing something other than trying to outwork the Pac Man. Pacquiao is in a different stratosphere and I see his athletic skill set as the gamebreaker in this fight.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Matt’s Take: Pacquiao has tremendous athleticism and in terms of putting combinations together, his hand speed is second to none. They are essentially his bread and butter. Clottey has decent athleticism and average speed at best, but doesn’t heavily rely on either to help him emerge victorious. Many of the shots he landed in his fight against Miguel Cotto were due to terrific timing, not quick hands.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Power
This one is a bit trickier. Do you look at knock out percentages or brute strength? One would imagine Clottey is the stronger man, but Pacquiao has knocked more welterweights lately than Clottey, who has recorded one stoppage since 2004. I’d lean with Pacquiao here as well. I firmly believe the brunt of Pacquiao’s power is in his killer instinct. It was hard to find a those instincts in the Joshua Clottey that fought Cotto, and that could be his downfall in this bout. Where Clottey slips up, Pacquiao will capitalize.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Matt’s Take: It’s no secret that Manny Pacquiao has true pound for pound punching power ala Thomas Hearns; just ask naturally bigger opponents in Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Oscar De La Hoya. In his two fights at welterweight (where he meets Clottey), Pacquiao has used fast, hard combinations to batter the aforementioned Cotto and De La Hoya, making him a heavy handed fighter even as an undersized 147 pounder.
Clottey’s power has always been underrated in my book. Clottey, easily the biggest active welterweight, has tremendous physical strength and the ability to throw noteworthy punches at any given time. He hurt former world champion Zab Judah and also made things quite uncomfortable for Cotto in their June 2009 match up. He possesses a unique punching style, which I have always been a fan of, which includes body-head combinations and double hooks up top. While the man known as “Hitter” can definitely do damage if he connects, Pac Man’s other alias is “The Destroyer” for a reason.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Defense/Chin
If Clottey has a shot at knocking off Pacquiao it lies in his defense. Clottey survived twelve rounds with Antonio Margarito, and I hate to go there, but who knows what was in Margarito’s gloves at that time. Clottey’s defensive success may be a testament to his refusal to take risks, but that flaw nudges him ahead of Pacquiao in this category.
Pacquiao hasn’t hit the canvas in years, but he has hit the canvas nonetheless. If I see one scenario that has Clottey winning this bout it’s a product of him using his strength and defense to control the pace of the bout. Clottey won’t make himself as presentable a target like Pacquiao’s most recent opponents and that may be the one thing that could propel him to a decision victory.
Advantage: Clottey
Matt’s Take: Pacquiao has had a good chin since day one. Although he was twice knocked out as a severely weight drained youngster, he has consistently shown the ability to take a punch. The best proof of his proficient chin is something he once was; a poor defensive fighter. The old, lighter Pacquiao had no problem trading punches with anybody at any time, but the 140-147 lb version boxes and moves a lot more effectively. Moving up in weight gave him the opportunity to build up his legs, thus he avoids punches far better than in years prior. On the contrary, he had trouble avoiding Cotto’s jab in their November super fight and against a strong fighter like Clottey that could be a problem.
Like many African fighters, Clottey has an effective high guard defense and a good beard. His defensive style is very effective and he rarely gets hit with flush shots. Basic or not, Clottey’s defensive abilities are frustrating for opponents. His chin isn’t an easy target to find, but even when he was hit, Clottey weathered the storm. The rugged Ghanaian has never been seriously hurt and his only trip to the canvas (against Cotto) was due to him being off balance.
Advantage: Clottey
Heart
Yet another category that is hard to pick against Manny in. On top of being arguably the fighter of the decade, Pac Man has taken part in several fight of the decade candidates. Surprisingly, I saw more heart from Manny in his first bout with Marquez than I have seen in a long time. After putting his man down three times in the first round only to have him claw back into the fight, Manny stayed with it despite giving up the draw.
Clottey will come into Cowboy’s stadium with a world of desire behind him, but heart is something that either you have or you don’t. I believe Joshua Clottey does to an extent, but anyone who lets a defeated Miguel Cotto survive, and throw enough punches to steal the bout from him will have trouble matching the heart, desire and killer instinct of Manny Pacquiao.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Matt’s Take: Pacquiao is as gutsy as they come. He’s a number of times and never had any issue adopting to take on a bigger fighter (see above). His willingness to exclusively mix it up when he fought the world’s best in lower weight classes simply can not be overlooked, even if he has changed his style a bit. Manny has also taken the heart of many of his opponents, such as De La Hoya, Hatton, Cotto and Barrera.
Manny may very well take exactly that from Clottey, since this is perhaps his biggest weakness. The late, great Arturo Gatti and even a more fragile fighter like Floyd Mayweather have fought multiple times with hand injuries and other distractions, proving when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for former WBO Welterweight champion.
Clottey went into a shell after injuring his hand against Margarito in 06, squandering a good start en route to losing a decision. Against Cotto, he didn’t fare much better, electing to cover up on the ropes rather than throw back consistent combinations when the rugged Puerto Rican applied heavy pressure. Unless his questionable antics change, he is in for a rough night against an opponent who has snatched the heart out of some of boxing’s best.
Advantage: Clottey
Experience
Joshua Clottey will take part in a fight that draws the eyes of the sports world onto him, and it will be the first time that he has done so. Pacquiao meanwhile has been to this dance before. Pac Man has captured titles at a number of weight classes, stared down boxing legends, and had the morale of an entire country on his shoulders.
Clottey is by no means a wide eyed kid in over his head, the 32 year old has fought all over the world against different breeds of boxers, but it’s hard to find a resume` that measures up to Pacquiao’s. It’s been reported that ticket sales are around 45,000, a far bigger audience than either fighter is accustomed too. I don’t know that either man has a case of stage fright but on a scale this big I’d have to give the edge to Pacquiao.
Advantage: Pacquiao
Matt’s Take: When I say Pacquiao has fought everyone, I mean Pacquiao has fought everyone. Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera (twice each) and Erik Morales (three times) among others, there are very few noteworthy opponents he missed along the way. In addition, Pacquiao fought all of the aforementioned opponents on pay per view and has delivered masterpieces when the most eyes were on him.
Whether it is an asset to how dangerous of an opponent he is or the fact his inability to capitalize under the bright lights, Clottey is lacking in experience compared to Pacquiao. His most notable opponents were Cotto, Margarito, Judah, the late, great Diego Corrales and Carlos Baldomir. Outside of those five, three of whom have beaten him, Clottey’s fought mostly gate keeper type opponents.
Advantage: Pacquiao
The Verdict:
I have a shot for shot screenplay of this bout playing out in my head. It’s of an aggressive Manny Pacquiao overwhelming Joshua Clottey with a high volume of punches. Clottey is game, but careful. He knows that taking a risk of any kind will land him into deep trouble so he finishes the fight by kicking it into safety mode. Pacquiao doesn’t walk through Clottey the way he did Hatton and Cotto, but walks away with an impressive decision.
Verdict: Pacquiao UD
Matt’s Take: Clottey is regularly criticized for not throwing enough punches. His loss to Cotto serves perfect example of why he is a fighter that can do far more on the offensive end, but for one reason or another, chooses not to. Rather than going to take the title from the champion by making sure his hands were consistently busy, Clottey had too many Punchless spurts and cost himself the fight; as he did against Margarito.
Pacquiao throws terrific combinations and moves well enough to avoid return shots from his much slower opponent on Saturday night. The Filipino icon’s busy hands and Clottey’s inability to get going on a steady basis will spell trouble for the latter. Clottey’s natural size advantage, good chin and defense will likely help him make it to the final bell, albeit as a loser in the majority of the rounds.
ARLINGTON, TEX -- During January's kickoff ceremony for the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight slated for this Saturday at The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium, team owner, Jerry Jones, gave Pacquiao jersey No. 3; Clottey was given No. 13.
That number, by the way, just so happens to be the same as the date of Saturday's bout, which could just work out to be Clottey's lucky day.
"You know, it's a wonderful jersey. I have a friend who always uses No. 13," said Clottey on Wednesday during a press conference for Saturday night's fight. "It's not bad luck. You know? I don't know anything about bad luck."
But by now, you've heard it all before -- the many travails of Clottey's boxing career which threatened to keep him a relative unknown destined for opponents' status rather than a man who may now be on the verge of superstardom.
There are the losses to former world champions, Carlos Baldomir, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, respectively, having to do with a mysterious head butt disqualification call, two hand injuries in a fight that he led, and a disputed decision even as the winner's face looked as if it had gone through a meat grinder.
There was Clottey's giving up the IBF welterweight (147 pounds) title he won against Zab Judah to take the Cotto fight, which, as mentioned earlier, he lost.
Top Rank Promotions publicist, Lee Samuels, described distraught Clottey as having a look of "Utter despair" following that June loss to Cotto.
And even after that, there were two lucrative bouts with world champion and former world champion, Shane Mosley, and, Carlos Quintana -- each of which fell through.
"When we were going to do the Clottey-Shane Mosley fight last December at the Staples Center, everybody was talking about how tough and how close of a fight that was going to be," said Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, which promotes Clottey (35-3, 20 knockouts), standing in the lobby of the Gaylord Texan Hotel, in Grapevine, Tex. "And believe me, as I'm standing here with you, it was going to be a close fight."
And then, there was the failure of his former trainer to receive a United States Visa from his native Ghana -- this, in order to train the Bronx resident for what amounts to the biggest fight of his career.
But the fact that the 32-year-old Clottey still is line to make his biggest career payday of $1.25 million -- not to mention untold sums should he defeat seven-division titlist, Pacquiao -- is not only a testament the Bronx resident's perseverance as a fighter, but also, to Arum, who vowed to bring him back.
"I promote him, and he's a nice, nice young man, and he's really distinguished himself even the case of his loss to Cotto. And he didn't widely complain and whine and so forth, and I'm a little more old school than the new promoters, and I realize that if you lose, it's not a death sentence," said Arum.
"If you lose, and you're a quitter, that really could be a death sentence. But if you lose, and your shield, and you give everything that you have, then you bring the guy back," said Arum. "As I said, Joshua Clottey, when you look at the welterweights, among the three or four top welterweights in the world."
If Clottey's career has nine lives, then he will be on about his eighth when he steps into the ring in Jones' $1.2 billion stadium against Pacquaio (50-3-2, 38 KOs), looking to cash in on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to thrust himself into the upper stratosphere of the sport.
"Joshua Clottey brings it. He brings it -- every fight, he brings it. And he's confident that he can beat Manny Pacquiao. Absolutely confident," said Arum. "Do I think that he can? Absolutely -- no, I don't. Because I think nobody can beat Pacquiao. But that being said, he has as good a chance as anybody."
But the most recent who have tried against Pacquiao have all ended up being knocked senseless, on their back sides, or simply on their stool unable to continue -- as in knockout victims David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.
Clottey, in perhaps his boldest statements yet about Pacquiao, said that not only will he not succumb to similar fate, but that he will make Pacquiao experience fear in a fight for the first time.
"Manny Pacquiao is a very good fighter, but he's fighting with a real welterweight -- no catch weight, no nothing. I've always felt like I've never, ever lost a fight, that's what I always say. And I have never gotten beat up," said Clottey. "I've never felt none of my opponents punches before. I want to see if I'm gonna feel Manny Pacquiao's punches. Call me crazy, but I just want to see that."
Clottey's new trainer, Lenny DeJesus, is one who believes that his man has the stuff to vanquish Pacquiao, this, after having worked with Pacquiao in the past.
Clottey took criticism for basically letting a damaged Cotto off of the hook in his last fight, which was well-deserved, said DeJesus.
"I worked as Joshua's Clottey's corner as the cut man for the Cotto fight, and I respect the corner man, who was another trainer. But if he would have put on more pressure, like I expected out of him the last three rounds, I think that he would have won the fight decisively," said DeJesus.
"But the corner was overconfident that he was winning. I wasn't. If he would have applied more pressure, he would have pulled it off that night," said DeJesus. "This time, I'm going to be the main man in the corner, and I think that I have a good chance against Manny for this fight."
DeJesus then took a shot at Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, who has been named Four-Time Trainer Of The Year. "I think I'm going to be the guy that's going to beat Pacqauiao in this one. I think I'm probably going to get the Trainer Of The Year," said DeJesus. "Roach has four, I have none. But I've been through 75 world championship fights in my life."
DeJesus said that Pacquaio "is a more cautious" fighter than in the past, adding, "I expect my guy to put more pressure on him."
"When we put pressure on a guy to go backward, then I think we can make him go back to his old style. If he gets hurt or gets hit hard, he's going to rely on his old style," said DeJesus, addding that Clottey beat up 175-pounders during training.
"Joshua has been training with all offensive fighters, 90 rounds. I'm pushing for that and I think that that's my key to win the fight. A lot of pressure, throw punches, and my guy takes a good shot," said DeJesus. "You're going to see a little bit different Joshua Clottey. You say style makes fights, and this is a good style for us. In this case, Josh is going to throw a lot. I think this is a good style for us because we're going to cover up, defensively, but we'll also throw a lot more."
Against Pacquaio, Clottey said he won't make that same mistake that he made against Cotto.
"My corner was thinking that everything that I was doing was fine [against Cotto]. They were thinking that I was winning, so I was not pushing too much. In my mind, I know that I have to fight every round harder, and I'll have to fight every round more convincingly," said Clottey.
"In every thing that I'm coming to do in this fight, it's superb," said Clottey. "I'm going to do something that's going to make people happy. I care about winning, losing, a draw."
Unlike past opponents, Clottey is not being asked by Pacquiao to fight at a catch weight -- somewhere below the welterweight standard of 147 pounds to accommodate for Pacquiao's rise from the lower weights.
"I'm a really true welterweight. Big for that matter. He's a smaller guy and can throw a lot of punches. I connect punches," said Clottey. "I'll make sure that if I throw few, it's going to connect, and I'm going cause damage. I believe in that."
"If he's going to throw a thousand punches, then I'll block a thousand punches. And that will get him thinking. I'm not going to back up," said Clottey. "And the fear, and the pressure will make him think more. I'm not going to go backward.
"I'm going to stay in there. Wherever he goes, I'll cut off the ring. I'll make him fight. I want him to fight for the first time." Even as many do not give him a chance, Clottey, in victory, could join legendary Ghanian fighters such as Azumah Nelson and Ike Quartey in status.
"If I win this fight, it's going to be all over the world. There's going to be tremendous joy in Ghana," said Clottey, who, more importantly, could marry his fiance, Ruth Dunnh, and provide a better life for his daughter, Zeannette, who is 11. "I have a lot of love for my country. If I win this fight, it's going to change a lot for so many people, not only me."
At the start of Wednesday's press conference at The Cowboys' stadium, a stone-faced Clottey -- flanked by two, Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders -- was led onto the concourse behind, two, men, carrying large, red flags with his last name on each of them.
As he peered out over the still-being-constructed floor of the stadium, Clottey imagined seeing his name on the gargantuan, high-definition screen known as "Jerry-Tron" -- after Jones -- which is believed to be the largest in the world.
"This was not really intimidating. I'm just here to do my business and make the crowd happy," said Clottey, noting that he is aware that of the expected 45,00 or more spectators who are expected to show up for Saturday night's fight -- billed, "The Event" -- few, if any, are coming to see him win.
"It doesn't matter. If you see the Filipino, they're cool, they're calm, they're not talking trash, and they don't do anything harmful," said Clottey. "Besides, if I'm winning, they're all going to be silent."
