Destruction of the Filipino Legend: Joshua Clottey Plans Upset of Manny Pacquiao

By Joe Wilson

(Managing Editor’s Note: Joe Wilson is our newest Feature Writer here at RSR and I, along with the rest of the team, welcome him aboard.)

On March 13, 2010, the bright lights of Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will once again be the big stage for a main event. This time it won’t be the NBA All-star game, which just recently held a record crowd of over 108,000+ fans. The main event this night will be the sport of boxing, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey.

This type of event is usually housed in a place like MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas or one of its venues on the strip. Manny Pacquiao just fought there back in November 2009, where he punished Miguel Cotto before a huge crowd. Joshua Clottey’s last fight took place before a crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City against Miguel Cotto back in early 2009. Clottey lost a close 12 round decision. There were some skeptics who thought Clottey did enough to win that fight.

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has been pleasing boxing fans all over the world lately. He has become one of the most exciting fighters to watch. He is known for his “take no prisoners” attitude. This little guy has marched up the weight divisions from 106 pounds all the way to the welterweight division. And he has beaten up everyone who has stepped in the ring with him. Pacquiao has carried his strength up to heavier weight divisions very well. He has not lost any speed while doing so. It’s very rare that a boxer can do that.

What seems to make Manny Pacquiao a big threat for most fighters is his style of fighting. He fights with pure aggression. Pacquiao moves in and out like no other fighter today. He throws punches from all angles with power in both hands.

The speed factor of Pacquiao is hard to match, because of the way he bounces in and out. The way he uses his legs gives power to his punches. Once he starts to land his punches clean, it’s usually not long before he gets his opponent out of there. From watching his past fights, he usually gets stronger as the fight goes on.

Okay, let’s talk about Joshua Clottey. How can he win?

If you talk to Joshua Clottey, he might tell you he’s never lost a fight! Some may agree with him, being that he’s only been knocked down once in his career, by a punch. That knockdown came in his last bout against Miguel Cotto. Even that knockdown was questionable by many who viewed the fight. Joshua Clottey has never been knocked out by any fighter.

Joshua Clottey is a big strong welterweight, who will keep coming forward. He feels his size advantage and counterpunching skills will be key in a victory over Manny Pacquiao. Joshua Clottey also feels his true size advantage will be something new and different for Manny Pacquiao. Clottey realizes, when Pacquiao defeated Six Time World Champion Oscar De La Hoya, he was aged and weight drained. He also mentioned Pacquiao defeat over a blown-up Ricky Hatton, who had not fully recovered from the 10 round knockout by the Undefeated World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather the previous year, was no big deal! Clottey said, “Pacquiao’s destruction of Miguel Cotto was only a shell of what was left after fighting Antonio Margarito, Zab Judah, Shane Mosley and himself.”

Joshua Clottey feels, if he can take away Manny Pacquiao’s right hook, which is his knockout punch, then he thinks this fight becomes one sided. He feels his size and counterpunching will offset the speed of Pacquiao. In the opinion of some, this fight matches up pretty well. There is a height and reach advantage for Clottey, but that’s seems to be normal with most of Pacquiao’s opponents.

Freddie Roach, the trainer for Manny Pacquiao, has already predicted this fight ending by knockout. Roach feels that Joshua Clottey’s style will be tailor-made just for Pacquiao to give him his first defeat by knockout. There are many fight fans around the world that feel Joshua Clottey has no chance of winning this fight. Some think he will spend too much time on the defense covering up and they feel he will not have much left in the tank going into later rounds, if the fight ends up there.

If Joshua Clottey finds a way to take away Pacquiao’s right hook, and jam some hard punches straight through the center, he might be able to throw Pacquiao off his game plan. He will have to study the tapes of Manny Pacquiao fights against Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez gave Pacquiao trouble in both of those fights. Marquez proved that good counterpunching could pose major problems for Pacquiao. Clottey will be much stronger than Marquez, and if he’s able to land clean on Pacquiao, his punches will do much more damage than Marquez’s.

I remember vividly back in February 1990, I was ordering food from the drive-thru at my neighborhood restaurant. The guy at the window looked me in my eyes and asked me, “was I a fan of boxing?” I answered, “Yes!” He said, “You are not going to believe this but James “Buster” Douglas has just knocked out “Iron Man” Mike Tyson in Tokyo.”

I remember like yesterday, it seemed to me the world stopped at that moment! The guy handed me my order, I pulled over to the side of the parking lot, and just sat in the car speechless.

Twenty years later, can lightening strike the same way twice? However, this time it could strike on the biggest stage two fighters has ever fought on. The Cowboy Stadium of Arlington, Texas is a $1.5 billion dollar arena. Will Joshua Clottey pull off a big upset against Manny Pacquiao? Will those bright lights be too much of a test for either fighter? No other fighters have had the privilege of boxing on a stage this big. Will there be stage fright come the night of March 13, 2010? Only time can answer these questions. The clock is ticking…