Can Pac Man Chomp Through Clottey’s Defense? -- Eastside Boxing

By John G. Thompson, Eastside Boxing

When Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao 50-3-2 (38 KO’s) meets Joshua “The Grand Master” Clottey 35-3 (20 KO’s) at Cowboys Stadium in Texas on Saturday night, this great matchup will come down to one issue – whether or not Pac Man can break through the tough shell defense of the Grand Master. Though on paper this appears to be one of the toughest fights of Pacquiao’s career, if the Filipino superstar can overcome the one obstacle of Clottey’s defense he will make this fight look similar to his one-sided win over Oscar De La Hoya.

Some would argue that size will present the greatest determining factor, and for good reason. At When the 5’6½” Pacquiao fought the 5’10½” Oscar De La Hoya, this was a case of a great fighter fighting a great promoter. Oscar had seen better days, spent more time in the office than the ring, dropped too much weight to make the limit, and should not have been fighting a hungry world champion. In short, his height advantage meant nothing. The Oscar who fought Shane Mosley or Felix Trinidad might have at least had a chance.

Much was made about the size advantage of Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto prior to their bouts with Pacquiao, when in fact Hatton stood only one inch taller than Pacquiao, who actually possessed a two inch reach advantage over Hatton! Miguel Cotto stood only half an inch taller than Pacquiao with an identical reach. Clearly the topic of sized advantage was only smoke and mirrors to make these fights seem more impressive for the seven division champion. Against Clottey, however, Pacquiao faces a fighter with a one and a half to two inch height advantage and a three inch reach advantage.

That being said, a couple of inches will not determine the outcome of a bout between these two superb boxers. After all, Clottey’s no Paul Williams. What will make the difference is whether or not Pacquiao can hit the man formerly known as “The Hitter,” who hides behind a Winky Wright or Arthur Abraham like “peek-a-boo” defense. A key moment occurred in the second round of Clottey’s fight with Miguel Cotto. Cotto had just thrown a variety of punches, with both the right and left, both to the body and head. All of those punches were blocked by the forearms of Clottey as he hid behind his very tight, classical upright guard. Cotto paused for a moment after throwing these blocked punches, as if he were perplexed on how to proceed. Clottey noticed this and began to press forward. If Pacquiao falls into this trap, Clottey will again press forward.

There is a blueprint for defeating Manny Pacquiao, designed by Juan Manuel Marquez, after being knocked down three times in the first round of the first of their two epic battles. Erik “El Terrible” Morales followed this blueprint to the letter with great success in his first bout of three with Pacquiao (Erik stated that he had watched the Marquez fight eight times prior to fighting Manny). What these great Mexican warriors did was to move backwards, away from Pacquiao’s left, and always work behind the jab. Ricky Hatton came straight forward and barely made it through the first round. Cotto chose to exchange and paid dearly. De La Hoya stood still and was humiliated. Marquez and Morales (in each fighter’s first bout with Pacquiao) moved, used the jab, and tried their best to nullify Pacquiao’s arsenal. Certainly there were times Marquez and Morales went on the attack, however, only after first making Pacquiao miss with their ring generalship.

Joshua Clottey will not adhere to this blueprint. As hard as it was for “El Terrible” to restrain himself and box, it will be nearly impossible for Clottey whose defense relies more on blocking than ring movement. Clottey will go defensive, but standing still and absorbing blows with his forearms, then look to counter. Styles make fights, and this may be Clottey’s stylistic weakness against Pacquiao and the reason Pac Man’s trainer Freddie Roach sees an easy victory over such a challenging opponent. Clottey’s best asset, his defense, will work against him. Unlike Cotto, who stood there to absorb the counter punches of Clottey, Pacquiao will throw and then move away, and then come back with angles. Clottey will attempt to counter, but miss, and Pacquiao will pick him apart. In a recent interview with Max Kellman where he spoke to both fighters as they faced one another, Clottey said that the best thing against a fighter like Pacquiao was “Double-guard. Both hands up.” While he said this, Pacquiao smiled.

There are always intangibles and Joshua Clottey’s head is one. Cotto was cut above the eye by an “accidental” head but in the third round of their contest. Zab Judah was essentially stopped by the cut over his eye caused by Clottey’s head. Clottey was even disqualified in a title shot against Carlos Baldomir for head butts, even though he was winning the fight. And as long time Manny Pacquiao fans know well, Pac Man does bleed.

The beginning of the fight will tell everything. After the first combination of Pacquiao is blocked, Clottey’s response will dictate the outcome of the fight. If he is able to counter with the straight right or left hook, he will walk away with a career defining upset victory. If on the other hand Pacquiao moves well and Clottey’s counters meet only air, it is a certainty that Pac Man will earn another impressive victory in an already legendary career.

Comments? BoxingWriterJohn@gmail.com

Source: eastsideboxing.com

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Cowboys, Clottey await WBO welterweight champ Pacquiao -- USA Today

By Bob Velin, USA TODAY

When heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fought Cleveland Williams in 1966 at the new Houston Astrodome— the world's first domed stadium known as "The Eighth Wonder of the World" —Bob Arum was the promoter.

Forty-four years later, the second coming of "The Eighth Wonder of the World," the innovative, immense, state-of-the art, $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, will host its first prizefight Saturday night between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Ghanaian challenger Joshua Clottey.

Guess who's promoting this one?

Top Rank chairman Arum, 78, but going strong and eager to see his most prized fighter, pound-for-pound champ Pacquiao, christen the house that Jerry Jones built outside of Dallas in Arlington.

A sellout crowd of 45,000 is expected for the fight, which will be televised on HBO pay-per-view (9 ET). Arum, who lives in Las Vegas, the mecca of boxing, says it can only help to have some of boxing's biggest events outside of Las Vegas.

"You can't be a major sport if all of your big events are in one city where people have to come from all over to attend the event," Arum says. "The Super Bowl wouldn't be as big, in my opinion, if it was held in the same city every year."

Jones, the owner of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and the stadium, says he's thrilled to host this fight, even after a proposed Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, also at his stadium, fell through.

"It was more about just getting a fight done," Jones said in a conference call with news reporters this week. "I am glad I went through it, because it made me ready for the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

"It was like, 'put me in coach, I'm hot.' Somehow and some way we wanted to have Manny fighting here, and here it is."

Jones, a self-described big boxing fan going back to the Ali days, says he has invited all current and former Cowboys to the fight and expects many to be there.

According to StubHub, this is the most affordable fight among the ticket broker's highest-grossing boxing events. The average ticket price for this fight is $131, compared to Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya ($1,892) and Pacquiao-De La Hoya ($1,081), both in Vegas.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, says his first visit to Dallas has been memorable.

"It's an honor to fight there this week," says the Filipino superstar, who says he's not a big football fan but described Jones as "a nice guy."

An open workout Tuesday in Dallas attracted between 1,500 and 2,000 fans. "I will do my best to give a good fight and make people happy," he said.

Regarding his status if he wins the congressional seat he's seeking in the Philippines in May, Pacquiao said, "I'm not saying if I win the election it will be my last fight. I'm going to decide (after the election).

"After this fight, I'm going back to the Philippines to start campaigning. I have to work hard to win the election."

As for Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs), the Ghanaian known for his toughness and defensive abilities, Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) said, "I don't want to predict the fight, because nobody knows what's going to happen, but we've studied hard for the strategy. We're ready."

Source: usatoday.com

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Pacquiao-Clottey is all about location, location, location -- 15Rounds

By Norm Frauenheim, 15Rounds.com

ARLINGTON, Tex. – It’s all about the building. Cowboys Stadium is the main event. It sits there, below a flight path to a Dallas-Fort Worth runway, rising toward the Texas sky like a giant tent. It’s the big top, a technical marvel that sometimes sounds as if it could be a ride at Disney World.

Next stop:

Manny Pacquiao-versus-Joshua Clottey.

How a Filipino, Pacquiao and an African, Clottey, wound up in the featured event at a state-of-the-art home for America’s Team is either baffling, or just another American import, or a terrific story about diversity. Take your pick. But the fight Saturday night in a ring on the 50-yard-line is unmistakably about location, location, location for a lost sport always trying to find its way back into the mainstream.

For one night at least, Cowboys Stadium looms as a symbol of boxing’s aspirations. Promoter Bob Arum, who has seen just about everything, hasn’t witnessed anything quite like it in the many years since Muhammad Ali’s victory over Cleveland Williams in 1966 at Houston’s space-age Astrodome.

“Since the Astrodome, I have never been in a situation when the venue plays as big a role as the fighters,’’ Arum said.

If Pacquiao wins as predicted, the stadium could become the star.

“Whatever works,’’ Arum said.

What’s at work in the Dallas Metroplex is a potential shift in how boxing markets itself. Over at least the last decade, it has become a casino sport. That means Las Vegas and high-rollers in ringside seats. The rest of the crowd is in the anonymous pay-per-view audience, unheard and known only by a number.

In Dallas, there’s not much talk about the pay-per-view numbers for Pacquiao-Clottey. The guess is between 750,000 and 1,000,000 for the HBO telecast. Good, but not great and probably a long way from the pay-per-view audience expected for the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley showdown on May 1 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

But who’s counting. Only one thing matters here: In moving a bout with the sport’s biggest international star in Pacquiao from Vegas to an untapped boxing market, it looks as if Arum is reaching out to a new audience with some old-fashioned salesmanship. He’s beginning to go door-to-door, or at least town-to-town.

“Bringing fights to the people,’’ said Arum, who in Pacquiao has a candidate for the Filipino Congress in a campaign that started with a party called the People’s Champ Movement.

The idea is as old as any entertainer hitting the road. If a live crowd likes what it hears or sees, there’s a good chance many in the audience will buy a CD or T-shirt or poster. With a big Mexican and Mexican-American population, Dallas is a good place to find some new pay-per-view customers. After Dallas, Arum moves on to Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman at the new Yankee Stadium in New York where he hopes to re-awaken some of history’s legends, including Joe Louis’ rematch victory over Max Schmeling at old Yankee Stadium in a 1938 bout that has become part of the American fabric. Then, the itinerary could include a stop in south Florida at Land Shark Stadium, the Miami Dolphins home.

“You get stale, doing the same thing over and over, going back to casinos to put on these big events,’’ Arum said.

Stale would have been just fine if the showdown had been Pacquiao-Mayweather at the MGM Grand. In fact, a poll probably would have shown a public overwhelmingly in favor of stale. But the Pacquiao-Mayweather possibility fell apart over Mayweather’s demands for Olympic-style blood-testing. Arum traded in stale for intriguing. Will it work? Maybe not.

If Pacquiao is somehow upset by, say, a Clottey head butt and suffers his first loss since a head butt bloodied him in 2005 against Erik Morales, Arum might get nostalgic about stale old days. If Pacquiao prevails, however, there is an opportunity for boxing to re-invent itself all over again.

In Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Arum appears to have found a kindred spirit. Jones knows that atmosphere is a key to the entertainment art form. If the customers have a good time, they will either be back in line for a ticket or buy the next pay-per-view. It’s no secret that the best advertising is word of mouth. Jones says that only seven percent of NFL fans have ever seen a game in an NFL stadium. But the rest of the country has heard from that seven percent. They have tuned in and turned the NFL into the modern American pastime.

Jones, who says he boxed as an amateur as a 10-year-old at the Boys Club in Little Rock, Ark., is a longtime fan. He remembers days when Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard fought in Montreal and then in New Orleans. He traveled to Las Vegas to watch Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns.

“I’ve always thought boxing needs more exposure,’’ Jones said.

In Las Vegas, Jones entry into the sport must looks like a threat, a hostile takeover. Jones bid $25 million, which would have been a record site fee, for Mayweather-Pacquiao. But that possibility was headed to Vegas’ MGM Grand even before talks unraveled

“I wanted that fight, between those two guys, worse than my next breath,’’ Jones said.

Up and down the Vegas Strip, casino executives are holding their breath at what he might try next, especially if Pacquiao-Clottey is a success.

“But I think this is good and not a negative for Las Vegas to have a great fight in front of thousands of people,’’ Jones said in what might prove to be a new look at Sin City’s best-known marketing campaign.

What stays in Vegas isn’t always good for Vegas.

Or boxing.

Source: 15rounds.com

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For Joshua Clottey, a career-defining opportunity comes against Manny Pacquiao -- Los Angeles Times

By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Arlington, Texas - Joshua Clottey has already addressed all questions about his desire out of the ring.

Now, as he completes his preparations for Saturday night's WBO welterweight title fight against Manny Pacquiao, the mystery surrounding Clottey is whether the big underdog can produce the performance of his lifetime. Oddsmakers don't think so: Pacquiao is a 15-2 favorite.

Clottey (35-3, with 21 knockouts) was raised with little education in the African country of Ghana. He made daily trips to the sea as a youngster to reel in fish that he would sell to help support a family he described as "transient." But Clottey, 33, had the good fortune to follow his older brother, Emmanuel, into a sport that proved to be his calling.

"Some guy thought I could fight and put some gloves on me," Clottey said, recalling that when he was 6, he was sent into a bout against a larger youth who promptly slugged him in the stomach and caused him to lose his lunch. "I stayed at it. I learned. This was the way I was going to become somebody."

Thirty-eight fights into his professional career, Clottey's ability to avoid the hurtful blows like the one he sustained so long ago most defines him. Fighting against men who yearned for the same path out of Africa, Clottey never lost a pro bout in his native country.

He is made in the tradition of the greatest fighters from his country, boxers such as Ike Quartey and Azumah Nelson: tough, deliberate, balanced.

And driven.

"I see 1,000 kids come through my gym who say they want it, but they're not mentally tough like this guy," said Jimmy Gjini, owner of John's Gym in the South Bronx, where Clottey trains. "This guy's always in shape. He's focused, whether it's hitting the bag or jumping rope. There's never any playing around with him.

"I know Pacquiao's good, but he's human and I think Joshua will shock the world and show everyone the potential he has."

Unquestionably, Pacquiao shares with Clottey the attributes of being fueled by a youthful struggle. What separates the champion is that Pacquiao has showcased his ring skills so superbly in recent brilliant performances that his opponents are relegated to underdog status.

Clottey's edge, however, is the meaning of Saturday night.

Because of Pacquiao's popularity, mammoth Cowboys Stadium is expected to have a crowd of about 40,000 for the fight. But this date was supposed to be a Pacquiao bout against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., a mega-fight the boxing world had clamored for with each fighter receiving a $25-million guarantee. A dispute over drug testing, loaded with unquenchable ego-motivated demands, left that bout on the scrap heap.

No matter how the Pacquiao camp talks about the Filipino's unyielding dedication — regardless of his opponent — this bout still has the distinct feel of a consolation event.

Not so for the challenger, who takes pride in spreading the word among friends, family and reporters that his bigger size, discipline and defense will bother Pacquiao and affect the outcome of the fight. Clottey was in Ghana when he learned that the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations collapsed. "This is it," Clottey told friends.

"He's going to fight Pacquiao all night," Clottey's friend Bismark Bruce said.

Fight promoter Bob Arum says that although "no one can beat Manny Pacquiao, Clottey will make the best show. He brings it. He's tougher than Mayweather. Any time a little guy goes in with the bigger guy who's already fought everyone, you have to consider the bigger guy."

Clottey is embracing this "Rocky" moment.

"I'm ready to give him the fight of his life," Clottey said. "I'm more focused, more determined because people will see this all over the world and this fight is for my people in Ghana. I want to make them happy. I'm going to win."

"Pacquiao's now fighting a real 147-pounder," Clottey's trainer, Lenny de Jesus, said. "[He plans] to push Manny against the ropes. Manny doesn't fight well going backward. We're going to force the fight, create openings doing so and hit him with strong shots. We'll throw a lot of punches. If he listens, we'll pull it off."

In the view of Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, Clottey still has to prove he has an answer for Pacquiao's speed advantage and that he can avoid tipping off his punches. In past fights, Clottey has relied on a passive defense when tired, and that probably cost him a close decision loss to Miguel Cotto last June.

"Clottey is very strong — I respect him, but he has a tendency to cover his face too much and go into that shell," Roach said. "Clottey is not as offensive as some of the guys we've fought. You have to throw punches to win fights.

"I think we'll get him before we got Cotto (12th-round TKO). We'll pound him with body shots, and it will be too much. He'll get hit more than he ever has in his life."

Of course, Clottey knows how to take and dodge punches.

It's why he'll be standing in the center of the ring Saturday waiting for Pacquiao, and for his life's work to pay off.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Source: latimes.com

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Nevada boxing boss: Floyd Mayweather's hands are clean -- The Examiner

By Michael Marley, Examiner.com

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS—I know many of you would revel in it if I compared Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Charles Manson or your local axe murderer.

But, hey fair is fair, and there are times when both Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio's reputations have been sullied, when their respective names have been besmirched, particularly on the always open gossip and innuendo stream of the internet.

Nearly every day, I read or hear something about Mayweather taking pain alleviating injections before his bouts, which are permissible under certain, limited and medically documented conditions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

By now, most fight fans have read umpteen times that Mayweather supposedly deadens his throbbing mitts with shots of Xylocaine.

Only today, Pacman promoter Bob Arum was barking that Mayweather will never fight away from Nevada because he uses Lidocaine, legal used upon informed consent of the boxing board in the state.

(The generic name of this drug is Lidocaine, the brand name is Xylocaine.)

Now you know Uncle Bob never plays fast and loose with the facts but...Arum's allegation about the prevent pain injections which some might label “performance enhancing” shots precipitated a phone call from me to NSAC Executive Director and longtime attorney Keith Kizer.

Guess what, Mayweather haters the world over?

Kizer, who succeded Marc Ratner in the position back in 2006, says that, as far as the commission is concerned, Mayweather's hands are literally clean on this matter.

Mayweather outpointed Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir in Las Vegas in 2006, split decisioned Oscar de la Hoya and earned a TKO 10 over Ricky Hatton in the gambling mecca which is also the boxer's hometown in 2007. Mayweather was retired throughout 2008 and returned to the ring in Vegas last September to outpoint Juan Manuel Marquez.

As Kizer explained it, fighters must, under penalty of perjury, sign a statement at the fight weigh ins discloosing what, if any, pain or other serious medication they have used or plan to use anytime between the weigh in and fight time.

“Mayweather has never disclosed any such information so, as far as we are concerned, this is not any kind of issue. I know the ardent Pacquiao fans talk a lot about but to us it's the same as the speculation about Pacquiao using any sort of drugs which comes from the Mayweather fans out there. Both of them have always tested clean in Nevada.”

Kizer said he could name other boxers who have asked permission to use aspirin, Lidocaine, cortisone and other “pain therapeutic” medications.

“To us, it's just a safety issue and we have to know about it but none of those things are barred either by us or by the world and United States anti doping agencies,” Kizer said. “We need to know the reason they're using something, what exactly they're using or want to use and we need to know if they plan to take two pills or 20. If the fighter has something from a doctor concerning this, then our doctors check I out and give us guidance.”

Floyd Mayweather, drug crusader, cleaner than the Board Of Health?

When it comes to taking pain relieving injections in his hands, which have carried him to a sparkling 40-0 pro record, it would appear so.

So can we get off the constant harping on this topic?

I didn't think so.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: examiner.com

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Seven costly pro athlete screw-ups -- Yahoo! Sports

Yahoo! Sports

Almost 80 percent of National Football League players are flirting with bankruptcy two years after they retire, according to Sports Illustrated. NBA players aren’t faring much better. 60 percent of former National Basketball Association players end up broke within five years of retirement. Athletes squander millions of dollars due to bad decisions, lavish spending and poor financial planning. Here is a list of athletes that have lost their fortunes through some of the biggest financial blunders of all time.

Scottie Pippen

Known more for his on court defense than his off court business sense, former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen lost $120 million in career earnings due to poor financial planning and bad business ideas. Air Jordan’s sidekick blew $27 million on bad investments and spent $4.3 million on a Gulfstream II corporate jet.

Evander Holyfield

Four-time boxing champ Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield reportedly made over $250 million in cash during his boxing career, but despite this he reportedly is flat broke. Holyfield lost all his money by making “smart” business decisions look really foolish. You thought buying a house was a smart move? It normally is, but not when you buy a house the size of Rhode Island. Holyfield bought a $20 million house with over 54,000 square feet and 109 rooms. The house has 11 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, a movie theater, a bowling alley and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Imagine how much it must cost to cut the grass on all 235 acres! You could buy a Range Rover with the electric bill payment alone.

Lenny Dykstra

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny “Nails” Dykstra was a success on the baseball diamond, but in the business field Dykstra has struck out. Dykstra’s failed businesses include car washes, a magazine company, real estate investing and a stock trading website. According to Dykstra’s July 2009 bankruptcy filing, he owed more than $30 million to creditors, including his $18.5 million purchase of Wayne Gretzky’s home. The amazing part is that after two foreclosed homes and numerous failed businesses Dykstra is offering the investment advice that led him into bankruptcy for a mere $899 a year! In the investment world, it is often said that past history does not dictate future performance. Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear Dykstra isn’t the guy to go to for advice.

Latrell Sprewell

Look up the word “shortsighted” in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Latrell Sprewell. He famously turned down a $21 million contract because he said it wasn’t enough money to feed his family. Sprewell, who made over $96 million during his career, lost his $1.5 million dollar Italian yacht, named “Milwaukee’s Best”, in 2007. According to MSNBC, a U.S. marshal seized the yacht after Sprewell defaulted on his mortgage. His $5.4 million house went into foreclosure in May 2008. Don’t blame Sprewell for turning down the three-year, $21 million contract though. I mean really, who could live off a measly $7 million a year?

John Daly

Two-time PGA major champ John Daly gambled away between $50 and $60 million in career earnings, according to his 2006 autobiography. Daly once lost $1.65 million in five hours playing the slot machines at a casino. If you think that’s impressive, there’s more. Daly blew $1.2 million in a mere two hours and 30 minutes at a casino in Las Vegas. He just had his $1.6 million house foreclosed on. Did Daly quit gambling after blowing so much cash at the casino tables? Not by a long shot. Instead, he decided to downgrade from the $5,000 slot machines to the $100 and $500 machines. It looks in John Daly’s world, that is considered sound financial planning.

Jack Clark

Former professional baseball slugger Jack Clark was driven into bankruptcy in 1992 by his appetite for luxury cars. According to his bankruptcy filing, he owned 18 luxury automobiles, including a $700,000 Ferrari and a Rolls Royce. Clark was trying to pay 17 car notes simultaneously, and whenever he got bored with a car he would get rid of it and just buy another one. He ended up losing million-dollar homes and his drag-racing business because of his extravagant spending habits, but despite one of the most publicized bankruptcies in baseball, Clark reportedly got back on his feet in the late ’90s.

Mike Tyson

The king of them all is boxer Mike Tyson, who squandered a $350 million to $400 million dollar fortune. So what did “Iron” Mike spend his fortune on? Everything. He dropped half a million dollars on a 420-horsepower Bentley Continental SC with lamb’s wool rugs, a phone and a removable glass roof. It is one of only 73 Bentley Continental SCs ever built. The sad part is that’s not even the only Bentley that Tyson owned! He spent over $4.5 million dollars on cars alone. Throw in a $2 million dollar bathtub and $140,000 for two Bengal tigers and you can see why Tyson’s fortune is down for the count. He filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

Source: sports.yahoo.com

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Pacquiao Makes Great Fighters Look Bad -- 8CountNews

By Lorne Scoggins, 8CountNews.com

It's amazing how it has become common play for certain boxing analysts, reporters, and writers to criticize Manny Pacquiao for fighting unworthy opponents. Due to this, the Pacquiao-Clottey fight hasn't been taken as seriously as Pacquiao's last several bouts.

Before Pacquiao faced Oscar De La Hoya, some went so far as to say it was a “ridiculous” and “pointless” match. Some experts held to the belief Pacquiao would suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of his bigger opponent. When Pacquiao signed the deal to fight Cotto, many claimed that Pacquiao couldn't stand up against a legitimate, top-notch welterweight. After Pacquiao destroyed both men, De La Hoya was “old and weight-drained” and Cotto was “damaged goods”. It might be wise of the aforementioned boxing experts to entertain the notion that Manny Pacquiao possesses the skills to make great fighters look bad.

Pacquiao's skills have been finely honed over time by his hard work, and determination. Freddie Roach has also been instrumental in helping Pacquiao develop into the elite pugilist that he has become. The completely offensive, left-handed brawler that was the young Manny Pacquiao been transformed into the ultimate boxing machine.

Manny Pacquiao has an unusual style and an uncanny ability to confuse and frustrate the best fighters in his weight class. He's keeps on his toes and forces his opponents to turn. He doesn't give them time to T-off on him. He throws such volumes of punches from such strange angles that his foes are simply unable to defend against his attacks. Eventually he breaks them down, and overwhelms them.

Pacquiao's dominating performance over Miguel Cotto has been both a blessing and a curse for him. Before that fight occurred, Joshua Clottey would have undoubtedly been considered a legitimate threat. Now many just consider him to be Pacquiao's next victim. As 8CN's Kenneth Ragpala pointed out in his article entitled “Making a Case for Joshua Clottey”, anybody who thinks Clottey is easy pickings for Pacquiao needs to reconsider the facts.

Clottey is the biggest man that Pacquiao will have ever faced and has a defense that is all but impenetrable. Joshua Clottey was considered a very good welterweight until he signed a contract to fight Manny Pacquiao.

Here's the real scoop:

1.The negotiations with Mayweather fell through. That's been well covered so we won't dredge that up again.

2. The No. 2 ranked welterweight, Shane Mosley and No. 3, Floyd Mayweather Jr. are fighting each other on May 1st. At the time the fight with Clottey was made, Mosley was expected to face Andre Berto.

3. Miguel Cotto is No. 4 in the welterweight rankings. Pacquiao has been there and done that.

4. That leaves the next best option, Joshua Clottey. What is it that is difficult to understand about this whole scenario?

Throughout Pacquiao's career, he has fought the best opposition available. Once again, he's doing just that. Clottey is legit. He's no pushover and he has a chance to upset Manny Pacquiao. However, if Pacquiao does what is expected and beats Clottey, he will undoubtedly be criticized once again for facing a lesser fighter.

Perhaps Pacquiao’s critics would like to see him face Klitschko?

Contact Lorne: lscoggins@8countnews.com

Source: 8countnews.com

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Not a Super Bowl, but Pacquiao an event -- The Associated Press

By TIM DAHLBERG, The Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas — The czar of boxing was so devastated the fight didn't happen, it took him weeks to get over it.

The (not Don) King of promoters was so mad he could barely utter Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s name.

And the emperor of Dallas felt like he had just lost the Super Bowl.

"I wanted that fight here with those two fighters worse than my next breath," Jerry Jones said.

The fight, of course, was Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao, and it fell apart despite the frenzied efforts of some of the biggest names in boxing and one of the biggest egos in Texas. If not for a nasty dispute over blood testing, it might have filled Cowboy Stadium and given Jones the kind of megafight he believes his new $1.2 billion edifice rightfully deserves.

Instead, he had to settle for the hottest fighter in the game. He got Pacquiao, but even a salesman like Jones can't fool anyone into believing Joshua Clottey is Mayweather.

So he's selling Pacman. He's selling the event which, appropriately enough, is titled "The Event."

Mostly, he's selling his stadium.

"This is going to be big time," Jones said. "I'm going to over-deliver."

That should make the 45,000 fans expected to show up Saturday night happy, and it will certainly please de facto boxing boss Ross Greenburg and promoter Bob Arum. They couldn't put together the fight that everyone wanted, but, between the show in Dallas and the May 1 show featuring Mayweather against Shane Mosley in Las Vegas, they've rebounded to produce a decent substitute.

They've also gotten a new ally for the sport in Jones, who is already better at selling fights than he is at picking wide receivers.

"The thing that's blown me away is what an unbelievable promoter this guy is," Arum said. "He never gets tired. We took a two-day trip to Mexico and he was able to drink everybody under the table and kept going. He gave dozens and dozens of interviews to Mexican media outlets. It's really something to see."

Dallas is hardly Las Vegas, of course, and once the novelty act that is the stadium starts to wear thin Jones will need a better matchup to fill so many seats. Clottey is a fine enough fighter, but he's never sold a ticket on his own, and oddsmakers make him a 5-1 underdog in the welterweight bout against a fighter who seems to get better with each fight.

But his plan to invite Cowboys of old and present, toss in a few cheerleaders and show it all on the huge overhead screens that will reveal every drop of sweat, should be more than enough to make it a memorable evening, if not a great show.

It should also be enough to get respectable pay-per-view numbers, something that Greenburg, head of sports at HBO, watches closely.

"Just the curiosity of seeing a 20-by-20 foot ring in that massive stadium should attract some attention," Greenburg said. "That, plus Jerry Jones as the co-promoter and the star power of Pacquiao, is what really makes this an event."

Greenburg thought he would be putting on a pay-per-view for the ages this weekend with a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight that would have done huge numbers. But even he couldn't get Mayweather to back off on blood testing demands that eventually killed the bout.

"It took me two to three weeks just to get over a pretty frustrated and sad state," Greenburg said. "I knew we were on the cusp of generating so much mainstream interest in boxing. We were hitting on all cylinders and got a flat tire. It was definitely a wound."

The wound is already starting to heal. The Pacquiao-Clottey fight is drawing plenty of attention, and the Mayweather-Mosley fight is such a good matchup that it doesn't need a glittering new stadium to boost sales.

And, of course, if both Pacquiao and Mayweather win, there likely will be another chance to making this fight happen sometime in the fall.

"Hopefully, calmer and more rational business minds can sit at a table and resolve the negotiations if that happens," Greenburg said. "Right now we have to look positively at what we have. We've got two conference championship games now, and hopefully we can have a Super Bowl."

The football analogy works for Jones, who sees a lot of parallels between the sport and boxing. He also sees a lot of business potential in mixing the two, particularly in reaching the Hispanic fans who tend to watch boxing in higher numbers than any other demographic.

Jones didn't get the fight he really wanted, but he's throwing a party anyway. Arum, meanwhile, is getting a sidekick who could give a lot of boxing promoters a run for the money if he didn't already have a day job.

Told the other day that Jones sells standing room only tickets in his new stadium for Cowboy games and calls them "party passes," Arum was almost beside himself.

"He's the best promoter I've ever run into," Arum said. "Party passes for standing room only? What a genius!"

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: google.com

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Freddie Roach predicts stoppage, says Joshua Clottey ‘not versatile’ -- Las Vegas Sun

By Brett Okamoto, Las Vegas Sun

According to Freddie Roach, in no way is his fighter, Manny Pacquiao, taking Saturday's welterweight fight with Joshua Clottey at Dallas Cowboys Stadium lightly.

The trainer himself however, isn't giving Clottey much of a shot.

Roach, who is famous for accurately predicting fights, said he sees one of two scenarios playing out in the first boxing match ever at the newly built $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington, Texas — and neither of them are good for Pacquiao's opponent.

"He'll either try to come out and impose his size or he'll go to the ropes and try to get Manny to wear himself out," Roach said. "That won't happen, because Manny won't get tired. If he does come forward, he's going to come in straight lines and we'll use lateral movement.

"It's not that hard of a game plan. It's pretty simple actually."

So confident is Pacquiao's trainer, he didn't mind sharing a bit of the strategy the Filipino champion is planning to use in the ring this weekend.

Clottey (35-3, 20 KO) has never been stopped in his professional career, a streak Roach believes will end against Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO).

"The body attack is very essential in this fight because he doesn't protect his body that well," Roach said. "He's got a great chin, but I think we can break him down with body shots. I think we can stop him.

"He doesn't come out and chase punches and he doesn't block punches; he just puts up earmuffs. If you can throw the hook a little deeper on the ear and get him to block that, the chin is open. That's Manny's favorite punch. That's his bread and butter."

While Roach is obviously comfortable in sharing his confidence in what will happen Saturday, he's mindful to make sure his fighter is staying humble.

Looking back on the biggest upsets in boxing history, Roach said the losers all have one thing in common.

"They got lazy. They got satisfied," Roach said.. "But I haven't seen that in Pacquiao yet. I'm still waiting for the day he comes in the gym and doesn't have that work ethic. He works as hard today as he did the day he first came in.

"He knows (Clottey) is a dangerous guy and he respects him."

As Saturday's fight draws closer, there have been reports from various media outlets that Pacquiao's choice to run for Congress in the Philippines this spring and an inability to come to terms for a super-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. may turn this into the last fight of his career.

After speaking with parties involved however, it appears those reports are based mostly on statements only by Roach and that the chances of Pacquiao retiring after this weekend are slim.

In fact, Pacquiao's chances of even winning the election into Congress in May seem to be anything but a sure thing, as his opponent comes from a family with a deep political background.

"I talk to Manny, and he's winning by a landslide," said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. "Then I talk to (Filipino newscaster) Dyan Castillejo and she thinks it's fifty-fifty. He's running against a son of a ruling, warlord kind of family.

"He has an uphill battle, but he seems confident. I hope he wins, but I have no idea."

Whether Pacquiao's political dreams come to fruition or not, Roach remains set in the hope his fighter will take the ring no more than twice before hanging up his gloves.

Roach, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease likely caused by taking too many punches during his own fighting career, believes the only test left for Pacquiao would be Mayweather sometime in 2010.

Win or lose to Mayweather, Roach says, Pacquiao should retire.

"That's Freddie. I don't know why Freddie is saying that," said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. "Freddie is the most compensated trainer in the world and he keeps talking about retirement. Manny doesn't talk about it."

Roach says he also wants Pacquiao to have the luxury of retiring on top of the sport, rather than after a loss under the pressures of a coach as he did.

"It's really hard to tell somebody to quit," said Roach, who unsuccessfully urged James Toney and Bernard Hopkins toward retirement. "I remember when my coach told me to quit it made me cry. I thought, 'This is all I've done my whole life.' I was 26.

"We've talked about it a little bit. I'd like to see Manny fight two more fights and quit. This fight and Mayweather and be done with it. There are no more challenges out there. "

And for the man referred to by Pacquiao himself as 'master,' defeating Mayweather and then having the discipline to walk away on top may be the only challenges left.

Because even though he wants his fighter to take Clottey seriously, it's obvious the Ghanaian fighter doesn't scare Roach.

"I don't think (a win over Clottey) would take (Pacquiao) to the next level," Roach said. "We all know he's a good fighter, but the general public doesn't know much about Clottey and they know he lost to Cotto.

"It's a must-win situation, but I don't think it's a tougher fight than Cotto. Cotto was a versatile guy. This guy does the same thing over and over again."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.

Source: lasvegassun.com

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Jerry Jones - Bob Arum Conf Call Transcript -- Eastside Boxing

Eastside Boxing

BOB ARUM: I am really excited. You get stale doing the same thing over and over again. Going back to casinos to put on these big events, I think that going to this fabulous stadium like Cowboys Stadium bringing the fights to the people, I think that boxing once again establishes boxing as being one of the major sports in this country as it is so many other places in the world. .

Can you compare doing the first fight at the Astrodome to doing the first fight at Cowboys Stadium?

BOB ARUM: 1966 we led with Ali and did a couple of fights in England and in Germany and then we got a call from the Astrodome and he said bring Ali down here and I’ll protect you guys and we’ll do a fight against Cleveland Williams. We did and that building just blew me away. I’ve never seen anything before in my life. Suites and the amenities and there was nothing like anywhere in the world. And now 35 years later in another part of Texas, in Cowboys Stadium, it is the most phenomenal building I have ever been in. Words can’t describe it. You have to see it in person, the big screen, and all the restaurants. It is something really special. It is an honor for me to do a fight, Ali vs. Cleveland Williams in the old Astrodome and the first person, company, to do a fight in Cowboys Stadium and in June to do the first fight n the new Yankee Stadium, Foreman/Cotto, it is just thrilling. [note: Arum promoted the last fight in old Yankee Stadium, Ali-Norton III in 1976]

Is there a concern this may be Manny’s last fight with the election coming up?

BOB ARUM: I am not concerned with it. It is Manny’s decision in whatever way he would want to go. I spoke to Manny and I get no such vibes from him. He’s planning to fight again at least once this year should he be successful against Clottey and he has said nothing to me about retirement.

Could he do both?

BOB ARUM: If the Filipino Congressmen are anything like the US Congressmen, they sit around and do nothing most of the year so why wouldn’t he be able to fight.

Ticket sales?

BOB ARUM: As of this morning there were just over 4000 tickets left to sell and are moving rapidly towards a sellout. At least half are in the $200 plus category. There are less than 1000 in the $750 and $500 category. Party passes are up to Jerry. Jerry is the all-time best promoter, Party Passes for standing room only.

How does it feel compared to Las Vegas or a NY fight?

BOB ARUM: As far as Las Vegas it is more exciting. I love Las Vegas and live in Las Vegas, but the tickets in Las Vegas are limited to the size of the arena and they generally go to high rolling customers. Here the sales pitch is for the public and the same goes in NY, the public has to buy the tickets. It is completely different from a casino setting. That being said, I have not seen, since the Astrodome opened, a situation where the venue plays as big a role as the fighters in selling the event.

Does the venue overshadow the fight?

BOB ARUM: Whatever works. I have never had an experience where the venue has played such a paramount role in the promotion, but all that is good because the proof is in the pudding. It has helped us sell the tickets and it’s helped us get the publicity. The PPV numbers look very strong. The cable companies and the satellite providers are spending tremendous amounts of money advertising this event. I am going to experience the same in June in Yankee Stadium. The first boxing event in sparkling Yankee Stadium will spark tremendous interest and stories about the great fights that took place in the old Yankee Stadium. Like Louis/Schmeling and Ali/Norton.

Is this a great way to re-introduce the sport to the masses?

BOB ARUM: I believe that going to thee large venues and moving these boxing matches around the country will certainly help in branding the sport of boxing and making it what it should have been, a major sport in this country. You can’t be a major sport if all of your big events are in one city where people have to come from all over to attend the event. The Super Bowl, for example, wouldn’t be as important or as big, in my opinion, if it was held in the same city every year.

What have you learned about Jerry Jones?

BOB ARUM: No. 1, I met Jerry about 20 years ago when Jimmy Johnson brought him to one of the fights I was promoting in Las Vegas then I had a number of conversations with him and Al Davis when they were discussing a television deal internally from the NFL. They quizzed me on closed circuit television and various things. When we were talking about the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight, he called me at my house and said that he would like to put a bid in. We tried to arrange a meeting in Dallas and Richard Schaefer wouldn’t get on the plane and that went no place, so when the fight fell apart and we got Clottey as an opponent I called Jerry to see if he was interested and he said yes. He invited Todd and I to the Eagles playoff game on a Saturday and on Sunday we met in Jerry’s suite and within an hour cut the deal. What has blown me away is what an unbelievable promoter this guy is. He never gets tired. We did a two-day trip to Mexico. He kept going. He never stopped doing interviews. He did dozens of interviews with Mexican press. He has been one of the great partners that I have ever worked with.

JERRY JONES: It is great to be on the phone in this workout room and I feel like we’re ready to go practice football. My wife and I would travel the country to watch fights. We saw Bob’s fight at the Superdome and we’ve been to Las Vegas and are great fans of Las Vegas. We saw Ali fight several times and saw Sugar Ray and Marvin Hagler fight a lot. I had more time to go to the fights but since the Cowboys I have been gassed a couple of times and watch Showtime and HBO and it’s been always something that I have followed. It is unique that where I grew up in Arkansas we had a great fighter named Sonny Ingram, a Golden Gloves legend and he had a great boxing program out of my boy’s club and I lived a boy’s club. We had great fighters come through there and I weighed about 100 pounds and we’d get up there and box it up when we wanted to so I had involvement as a youngster but more involved as a fan.

What was your initial reaction when the first meeting fell through?

JERRY JONES: First off I have learned not to get disappointed. Just keep trying to make things work. I wanted that fight here between those two fighters worse than my next breath and so I was willing to wait as long as I needed to wait to have them join me. Bob was real sensitive and made it clear that the circumstances were not a negative about the Stadium or my interest in it. It was more about just getting a fight done. I am glad I went through it because it made me ready for the Pacquiao/Clottey fight. It was like, ‘put me in coach, I’m hot.’ Somehow and someway we wanted to have Manny fighting here and here it is.

JERRY JONES: First of all, there is no question it creates an intensity that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Let me give you an example…Tex Schramm for 29 years was the Cowboys. I wasn’t there two hours as owner of the Cowboys and he told me that the NFL and the Cowboys could never be a studio game. Everybody follows football primarily through television and only 7% of our fans have ever been in an NFL stadium. So where is all of the energy behind the sport? Numbers of people being involved. The NFL is where it is today because of that. You can take the pageantry of a crowd and the social aspect of having a huge crowd and having people in that crowd that aren’t necessarily the big hitters. The $50 people that are in there. You can get that out over television. That does help the sport. You don’t need that incentive to get the fighters to compete. The 100,000 people led the NBA players to play the most energetic All-Star game that they have had. I really believe that this is good for Las Vegas, not a negative for Las Vegas, to have a great fight in front of thousands of people.

Bob, what do you think about Clottey having Lenny De Jesus, as his trainer after his other trainer could not get his visa?

BOB ARUM: He and Lenny are really getting along well. He claims Lenny has taught him a lot of new things. Lenny has been around the sport for a long time, mostly as a cut man but also as a trainer. You know how much of boxing is mental and Joshua says that he feels confident. Can Lenny De Jesus be mentioned in the same category as a Freddie Roach? Of course not, but there aren’t many trainers around that are in the same category as Freddie.

Is Pacquiao stardom a reason you wanted to have a fight at your place?

JERRY JONES: Manny has had everything to do with it and not because he is on this call with me, but Bob Arum had everything to do with it as well. We have such visibility that we didn’t want to create interest, and I have a responsibility to the Cowboys and the NFL, we don’t want to deal with anything but the top. I made my mind up with the commitment to this stadium that I wasn’t going to be associated with anything but the best and working with the best. The make-up of Bob and Manny is what influenced me. I want to do everything I can to create interest in the stadium. Having Manny here and this competition, it says everything that I want to say, especially to our Mexican boxing fan and football fans and Hispanic fans, but also to everyone that has invested any way in this stadium. Whether it be buying suites or seats. This is going to be big time. I am going to deliver for what it means to you to be involved in this stadium. I am aligned with boxing and I have all the respect in the world for boxing and always thought it needs more exposure.

Are there plans for fights in the future?

JERRY JONES: It is a pleasure dealing with Bob and he came with such great recommendations from people he has dealt with in the past. He certainly has been a credit to sports, period. Obviously it has been oriented to the sport of boxing. I have every incentive to be involved with our stadium in the future of boxing. Logistically it is located right but it has a synergy with a lot of our fan base. It is no accident that there are going to be many football players at this fight. There is a common interest there. They are both physical sports. All of this fits with the Cowboys. I have arrived with a good horse in Bob. It would have been different if I had to partner up with someone of less integrity.

BOB ARUM: It is our intention to bring a lot of big matches to Cowboys Stadium, the fans here are terrific. This is the greatest venue in the world and it is something that can make boxing more visible. We have some of the best boxers in the world that will be coming here to watch the fight – Kelly Pavlik, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Those are fighters that one-day I hope to be talking to Jerry about having them star at Cowboys Stadium. Once this fight is over, Jerry, who has become a good friend of mine, we’ll sit together and plot the future.

Would you be willing to take a smaller all-Hispanic event in the future?

JERRY JONES: I am going to have to get used to it because there is not another Manny Pacquiao out here at this particular time. In sports we are al aware and have the promise of how great they are now and hopefully there is one or others that can stand up. I think if we can count on the coming on of other stars and if you can count on that the answer is yes. I could be interested in up and coming stars that could be less than Manny.

BOB ARUM: This weekend we have on this undercard we have some unbelievably talented young. We have Jose Benavides who is only 17 years old and people are saying he is the next big thing in boxing. Roberto Mariquain from Dallas who is coming in in Dallas Cowboy regalia and everybody says he is a future star. Salvador Sanchez III, the nephew of the late great Salvador Sanchez will be on the card. So there are a lot of future stars out there. There are going to be stars in the audience like Juan Manuel Lopez, the featherweight champion. Miguel Cotto will be here. All the fighters that we have been promoting will be coming to Dallas because they want to see for themselves this incredible venue and they hope that one day they will be featured on a card at Cowboys Stadium.

Have Cowboy players expressed interest in coming to the fight?

JERRY JONES: Michael Irvin is sitting right here waiting for Manny to come in and train today. I have invited all of the former Cowboys and many of them were there when we announced the fight as well as everybody that is on the team. I have had two coaches that are inordinate fight fans. Jimmy Johnson will be here with me, and Bill Parcells who is not going to be able to make it. We have a lot of fight fans among the Cowboys and NFL players in general. The NFL is reluctant to crossover with other sports but the people recognize that there is a crossover and that really excites me. The NFL raises awareness to all sports and that is a big thing to me. We are getting short on time and I want to create some action while I am still in the ring.

Since I am standing right here looking at Michael Irvin, I will use him as an example. Michael has an aura that everyone that is associated with him and won championships that people say we couldn’t have done it without him. He certainly was a great receiver and made a lot of great plays, but that wasn’t it. He had a way of creating energy. He did it at practice. He would challenge at practice. He would lift the level. Manny has it and a lot of people say what is it. It is taking a talent and maximizing it and walking the walk. When we see that done successfully and taken to a level, he walks in and has that aura. The world knows what his countrymen feel about him – all of that comes in the room with him. That is why he will be the first fighter to fight in Cowboys Stadium. He is an impressive young man and in the NFL right now we are looking at all of the college players that were seniors and juniors that want to come in the NFL and it is one with interviews and you have a team of 40 people, doctors and psychiatrists looking for it. You need to get around all that and you and I can see it.

BOB ARUM: Last week Julio Cesar Chavez Jr was in LA and I think he is a tremendous talent who has underachieved and part of it is his work ethic that leaves a little to be desired. So Bruce Trampler took him to the Wild Card Gym and he watched Manny Pacquiao train. His eyes opened because he realized that he had never really trained seriously after watching that. Manny trains for four straight hours without taking a break. The reason Manny Pacquiao is so good is what made Michael Irvin so good… they worked at it and they outworked everyone else.

JERRY JONES: To make that point, training in two-a-days in really hot weather is the greatest challenge for any football player. During two-a-days when you get the break, people go in and lay down in air conditioning and drink liquids and conserve their energy for the afternoon and this is really the challenging time. They used to have to go find Michael Irvin running with is pads on in the hot sun in Texas. Everyone on the team would know that. When he would walk out and sometimes he wouldn’t even have been to bed and everybody knew that too, and he’d walk out and everybody would be stretching on the field and he would just point and say who is it, who is going to outwork me today? That may be it. It is the work.

Will the ticket tax and no income tax give you an upper hand at Cowboys Stadium?

JERRY JONES: I know it gives us an upper hand on anything else we do by having no income tax in Texas. It isn’t just boxing.

BOB ARUM: That is not an accurate statement of the situation. Texas has a 3% boxing commission tax and a 5% state tax so it is an 8% tax. Nevada raised its tax from 4% to 6% and I believe it was justified because our schools are 50th out of 50 among the states. People have to learn that they have to pay for services and they have to pay for decent schools. So as a boxing promoter that does events in Las Vegas I am more than happy to do my share and to go from 4 to 6% is nothing particularly when kids in Nevada are not getting educated. Now maybe that shows my politics but that’s what I believe. There are no income taxes in Nevada, Texas or Florida and as far as that is concerned it is a level playing field.

JERRY JONES: It is numbers. Where the upper hand is, it is possible for some great fights, it is possible to have 100,000 people there. The locale, the center of the country, which we enjoy with the Cowboys and being close to Mexico is what we all enjoy. The other thing is that it is very attractive to my vision of our stadium and my vision of how I want my Cowboys positioned. I want to be very ambitious. But I want to be ambitious with the spirit in mind that this is good for Las Vegas because it creates more interest in fighting and fighting can participate in the kind of visibility that the Cowboys have. We are the most visible in programming in all of television. We have more people watching TVs when we play and vicariously these fights can benefit from that. That lifts all boxing and certainly I will attend fights in Las Vegas because I am a fight fan as well as a Las Vegas fan.

Just so you know, the $50 ticket is more than going to the Cowboys game. One of the things I tried to do in building our stadium was to build it big enough and to have what we call a ‘party pass’, which is standing room only. I did that so as many as 30,000 fans that came to the Giants game could come for $29. It was built so that more fans could afford to come to not only Cowboys games but also other sporting events. I think boxing can benefit from that. I have been rewarded by it, that our Mexican fans shake my hand and say thank you for having this fight here because we are going to get a chance to see boxing.

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Manny Pacquiao makes his debut on Good Morning America Weekend This Saturday morning. Check your local listings for times.

The Manny Pacquiao Foundation will be auctioning off original paintings of PacMan, signed personally by Pacquiao, Today! Thursday, March 11 at the Gaylord Texan Hotel in the Longhorn Exhibit Hall E, located on Level 1 of the Convention Center, beginning at 5 p.m. CT.

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Promoted by Top Rank, in association with the Tecate and MP Promotions, THE EVENT: PACQUIAO vs. CLOTTEY will take place This Saturday! March 13, in Cowboys Stadium, The $1.2 billion stadium is the largest, most technologically advanced entertainment venue in the world. Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), boxing’s only seven-division world champion, of General Santos City, Philippines, will be defending the World Boxing Organization welterweight title against Clottey (35-3, 21 KOs), of Accra, Ghana. THE EVENT will be produced and distributed Live on HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.

Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Clottey, priced at $700, $500, $300, $200, $100, and $50, can be purchased in-person at the Cowboys Stadium box office in Arlington, or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

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