PACQUIAO OUTPOINTS, DOMINATES CLOTTEY IN A ONE-SIDED FIGHT

DALLAS – Manny Pacquiao did not get the knockout most people wanted, but he did get all the points needed to beat the defense-minded Joshua Clottey and retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight belt late Saturday night at the Cowboys Stadium. A huge crowd of 50,944, the third biggest in modern history, came to see the fight, and for 12 rounds they watched Pacquiao dominate an opponent who was so busy defending he almost forgot to throw punches.

It was the first boxing event ever held at the $1.2-billion stadium, and Pacquiao, the greatest fighter in the planet today, made sure it was worth remembering, even for the millions who watched from around the globe. For the first time in his last five fights, Pacquiao had to listen to ring announcer Michael Buffer go to the scorecards. And unanimously, he was declared winner “and still” the reigning WBO welterweight champion.

Right from the start Pacquiao went after Clottey, but right there as well, he and his cornermen knew it was going to be a long night because the former champion hardly engaged, contrary to what he said he’d do. Clottey did prove he was tough because after all the punches he took, especially those to the body, he remained standing until the end, never really getting hurt. He covered up so well it looked like his gloves were glued to his face. Still, the crowd loved the fight because it was a very busy one for Pacquiao who threw a total of 1,231 punches, landing 246 of them, against Clottey, who threw only 399 punches, and was lucky to land 108 of them, including a few good ones.

Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, said the size of the crowd that showed up in his stadium was beyond his imagination. It was third largest in modern history, next only to the 72,000 that watched the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks 2 at the Superdome in New Orleans in 1978, and the 60,000-plus of the Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio in 1993. “He’s a good fighter and he’s strong. Yeah, his punches hurt, too. I was not in a hurry to knock him out because I knew he was just looking for the big shot. He was waiting for the perfect timing to land a good counter-punch,” said Pacquiao. “I felt his power. And I was cautious of his power throughout the fight,” said Pacquiao who stretched his incredible win streak to 12, and improved his ring record to 51-3-2 with 38 knockouts, including his last four fights.“Joshua fought a defensive fight. That’s his game. That’s why it was hard to knock him out. But the chance to fight the best only comes once in a lifetime so I felt he should have fought more,” said Roach.

During the post-fight press conference, Clottey admitted that for the first time in his career he felt that he truly lost a bout, because his three previous losses were all questionable.Against Carlos Baldomir, he was disqualified due to head butts, and against Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto last year he said he felt he won. “He has the speed so I think I really lost the fight. He has very good movement and he has the speed that was hard for me to handle. His speed was really difficult for me,” he said.
Source- (by Abac Cordero/ The Philippine Star)

Pacquiao in the February 2010 issue of Ring Magazine