By Gary Todd
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 14 Mar 2010
Going into this fight, there’s not a lot more you can say about Manny Pacquaio. He has done it all. Well almost.
Since debuting in 1995, he has worked harder than most to become a sporting superstar. He has fought the best fighters in multiple weight divisions and beaten ring legends to become recognized as the number one fighter in the world today. Well almost.
With the fight being billed as “The Event”, only hours away, and all the hard training over for Pacquaio and Clottey, both men will be resting, replenishing, and focusing on what lies ahead.
For Clottey, this is his biggest test to date in his 15 year career as a prizefighter. For Clottey, it’s everything. He knows, if he wins, he will become a millionaire, a national hero to his people of Ghana, but more than that he will get to fight the winner of Mosley and Mayweather.
For Pacquaio, its just another opponent. Well maybe.
When I spoke to Freddie Roach, after the Cotto fight last year, I asked what Pacquaio still had to prove, and who they wanted to fight. Freddie said Mayweather. Another guy jumps into the conversation and asks Freddie, “what about Mosley”? Freddie said, “Mosley is our toughest fight.”
I smiled at him, and he said ”Im serious.”
I couldn’t believe it.
For me, he has to fight Mayweather, then retire. If the Mosley fight was 5 years ago, at a lighter weight, then I would have to agree with Freddie, but not in 2010.
Anyway, lets get back to Clottey.
Clottey is a strong, but limited fighter who has a good left hook, and a decent uppercut, but seems to lose focus after 6 rounds. He will be, as always, in great physical condition, and will be bigger on the night. Throw in, a height and reach advantage, for him, and really, a nothing to lose attitude, then it makes for an interesting fight. Well maybe.
Pacquaio has fought bigger guys who trained hard, and none of them could adjust or adapt to his speed or angles.
For Clottey to have any chance of beating Pacquaio, he has to get inside and go to the body, and follow up with the uppercut, left hook. [ his best punch]
At first, Pacquaio just wont be there. He will box and stay outside, counter punching Clottey as he throws his hooks. Clottey has a bad habit of dropping his hands, when he throws his hooks, and Pacquaio will catch him all night long.
Interesting to note though, Pacquaio will have to be careful , not to get sloppy, or try to exchange bombs, on the inside, as Clottey has a lethal weapon,- his head. If you look at his record, you will see that in some of his fights, his best punch was his head. In some of his biggest fights against, Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah, Steve Martinez, Carlos Baldomir, and Richard Guttierrez, he resorted to fighting with his head, which cost him dearly.
The fight and my prediction.
I see Pacquaio fighting his fight, from the outside, and in the centre of the ring. Clottey will try everything and anything to try and get to Pacquaio on the inside, and he will at some point, make contact with Pacquaio’s eyebrows, causing a bad cut. This will be a turning point in the fight, and it should force Pacquaio to go for the knockout. After another head clash, the referee will stop the fight, and the fight will go to the scorecards.
A bloodied Pacquaio wins on points.
Source: PhilBoxing.com
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