CATCHWEIGHT OR NOT: ROACH SAYS 147, KONCZ SAYS 144

By Ben Thompson | January 11, 2010

According to advisor Michael Koncz, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will defend his 147-pound title against former champion Joshua Clottey at a catchweight of 144 pounds. "That's what the catchweight is for this fight," he informed Lem Satterfield of Boxing FanHouse late Sunday night. If the two fighters are indeed meeting at a cactchweight of 144 pounds, apparently, somebody forgot to tell trainer Freddie Roach, who revealed yesterday that there would be no catchweight for the bout. "It will be at 147. There's no catchweight," Roached stated as he spoke on the OnTheGrind Boxing Radio Show also on Sunday evening.

According to Roach, the Filipino superstar is now comfortable with fighting at the full welterweight limit of 147 pounds. "Manny's comfortable at the weight [147 pounds]. Making 135 was a bit of a struggle, making 140, we can make 140 with ease, but he likes the extra strength, he likes eating the day of the weigh-in. When Manny's eating the day of the weigh-in and gets to eat twice before the weigh-in, he's happy and that's when he peforms at his best, when he's smiling and in a good mood," Roach would explain to the OnTheGrind Boxing Team. "He's not in an angry mood because he's starving himself. Making weight is a little bit overrated I think and Manny Pacquiao is proof. He's fighting at a weight he's comfortable at. He'll come into this fight like 144-145 and he'll go into the ring at 148 or 149 at most and that's his best fighting weight."

Evidently, advisor Michael Koncz sees it differently. Despite Roach's confidence in the fact that Pacquiao is comfortable at the weight, Koncz still thinks he might be too small to handle the size and strength of a big welterweight like Clottey and would prefer the pound-for-pound champion to defend his WBO title at an even lower weight than he originally won it at. If this is true, then Clottey, who has had a difficult time of making 147 pounds in the past and hasn't weighed less than 145 pounds in nearly 13 years, will be at a severe disadvantage come March 13th. Surely this must just be a breakdown in communication between the trainer and the advisor as it's hard to imagine that Pacquiao, who fought and defeated Cotto at a catchweight of 145 pounds, would require Joshua Clottey to fight him a pound lower at 144.

UPDATE: Lem Satterfield must be a loyal FightHype.com reader as he's recently updated his previous report that Manny Pacquiao will be facing Joshua Clottey at a catchweight of 144 pounds. Upon further review, perhaps sparked by Freddie Roach's recent interview on the OnTheGrind Boxing Radio show, Koncz corrected himself, informing Satterfield that the bout will indeed take place at 147-pound welterweight limit, as orginally stated by Roach.

Source: fighthype.com