I'm saying that was all Clottey could do against Pacman. He didn't dare throw out more than a punch or two at a time. Even after he connected cleanshots, he turtled up instead of trying to capitalize. That's not holding back, that's fearing for your life.
Why wouldn't he try? All his family back home watching, a whole nation behind him. There is a thing called pride. He did what he could. He even said it himself in the post fight interview. "I couldn't land my power punches because he was too fast." He didn't choose to stay in his shell all night and not throw punches. He couldn't throw more punches because that left him open for Pac to goto work on him.
Clottey had a terrible style for Manny. Pacquaio did a great job of executing a game plan and neutralizing Clottey. It's as simple as that. Manny earned his win. I think Clottey not having his trainer really effected him. He would not have beat Manny regarldless, but he would have put on a better showing imo. He did not seem in sync at all with his corner. I don't recall ever seeing a trainer tell a fighter to throw more and the fighter blatantly shake his head no. I don't think Clottey feared for his life at all. I just think he knew he was beaten and therefore didn't want to open op and take any punishment. It was a huge let down for the fans but Clottey has always fought like this.
True. I was not shocked at all with the outcome. Pretty much the only chance Clottey had was to catch Manny and he's not much of a puncher. I figured Clottey would at least win a few rounds but Manny shut him out. Hopefully now we can get Manny/Floyd. The biggest fight in boxing history is already getting bigger. If Floyd puts on an impressive performance against Shane (which I think he will) then hopefully the fight gets done. Sadly, neither fighter needs the money though. It will be the fans loss if this fight doesn't happen and would not be good for boxing at all.
Pacquiao abandoned game plan vs Clottey By NICK GIONGCO March 15, 2010, 4:53pm LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao grew frustrated over Joshua Clottey’s reluctance to fight that he allowed his Ghanaian foe to pummel him a few times in their title fight Saturday night, confident that he’d shake them all off. “I can take his punches,” said Pacquiao upon his arrival from Dallas on Sunday afternoon when asked why he let the African inflict some damage. Not only that. Pacquiao told a couple of reporters from the Philippines the reason why he took a detour from the gameplan which was to catch Clottey off-guard. “He didn’t want to throw punches so I allowed him to punch me so he could somehow open up his defenses,” said Pacquiao. Clottey did throw some hard shots but soon after he unleashes, he immediately covers his face with his gloves and arms, thus preventing Pacquiao from hitting him. In one instance, Pacquiao thumped Clottey with simultaneous strikes to the side of the head, like the one that the late famous actor Fernando Poe Jr. did in his movies. The infraction merited a warning from Puerto Rican referee Rafael Ramos. “I just wanted to make the audience laugh,” said Pacquiao, who had told trainer Freddie Roach about coming up with such a comical move during the break in-between rounds. “But coach Freddie told me not to do it twice because the referee might deduct a point.” So, Pacquiao did it just once then continued to conduct a punching exhibition en route to winning on all the three scorecards. http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/247928/pacquiao-abandoned-gameplan-vs-clottey
Legendary action star in the Philippines. His famous move is slapping both ears of his opponent at the same time.
I don't buy this for one second. Manny is way too smart to take punches like that. He didn't need too. He gets all the credit for his win but anyone who buys "I let him hit me so I could land punches" is delusional. Boxing is a sport where a fight can end on one punch. Pac isn't going to risk that in a fight he was winning every round easily.
so you think he's lying? do you think clottey has a real strong devastating punch that Manny can't handle?
Yes, I do. Clottey is by no means a devestating puncher but that's not all that entails a knockdown. Many fighters have been buzzed or ko'd by perfect shots. Look at nate campbell/ robbie Peden. Campbell was clowing around because Peden couldn't punch and he got knocked out. Manny dominated Clottey. He did take some decent shots though and that was the most markeed up I've seen him since Morales. Boxers always tend to say things like that. It's certainly not exclusive to manny. He didn't let Clottey hit him. That makes no sense. That's the only prayer Clottey had of beating him. Manny was throwing over 100 punches a round trying to knock him out. Come on dude.
I would have bet everything I owned it was going to happen 3 months ago. Now, I'm very skeptical. Neither needs the money. Floyd has a bunch of GBP fights if he wants, Manny the same with Top Rank. Factor in Manny is running for Political Office in the Phillipines and i would not be surprised if we saw his last fight on US soil. Any GBP fighter he faces he will have to abide by Olympic testing (hence why we got Clottey instead on Pac/JMM 3) and I'm not sure Manny is willing to do that. There is no chance Floyd budges on his stance (nor Manny on his 10 million per pound) and the fans lose out. It's a real shame. The only good that has come out of all this is Texas boxing fans have shown they are top notch. Whether it be Houston, Dallas, El Paso, ect... the fans come out. That bodes well for big fights down here in the future
