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."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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