Pacquiao Beats Clottey Comfortably in Texas

By Michael Norby: For over two years now, boxing’s premier global superstar and WBO welterweight world champion Manny Pacquiao, has been feeding on legitimate 140 and 147lbers with relative ease. The Filipino continued that domination on Saturday night with a mightily impressive points victory over the usually rugged Ghanaian Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, USA.

Perhaps it wasn’t the super fight that everyone was looking for, but Pacquaio 51-3-2 (38) who failed to reach agreement with his original opponent Floyd Mayweather, put on another stunning performance as he easily out-punched Clottey 35-4 (20) from the first punch to the final bell.

Pacquiao’s terrific hand speed was on show from the opening bell as he thumped an earmuff wearing Clottey with a string of hard punches. The Filipino slowed a little from that opening assault as he looked for a path through the Ghanaian’s tight defense, landing several body shots that Clottey took well before shooting back a jab and right hand of his own.

Although Clottey was successful in stopping the champion from landing devastating punches with his excellent defense, he wasn’t throwing enough to make a serious impression on the scoring of the second round. Pacquiao effortlessly zipped inside with searching punches throughout the three minutes and was forced to absorb very infrequent jabs and right hands in return.

Pacquiao continued to connect with the greater volume of shots early in the third as Clottey responded with single, clean straight right hands in response. The Ghanaian connected with a clean left hook and uppercut midway through the round and he moved Pacquiao backwards with a hard right hand shortly thereafter. This was a much better round for the African but he would surely have to ramp up his work rate as the fight continued.

Although Clottey continued to find Pacquiao in spots in the fourth and fifth rounds, the champion continued to connect with an impressive array of body shots as his opponent covered up. The Ghanaian was undamaged but was severely out-worked; clearly counting on one of his right hands hurting Pacquiao later in the contest.

In an effort to force Clottey to open up, Pacquiao invited him to attack in the sixth frame. Instead the challenger inched forward with his hands glued to his ears, declining the invitation until the final minute when he landed with several right hands to the head. Still, though, Pacquiao easily out-landed his man and peppered him with fast combinations in the closing stages to punctuate yet another winning round.

The largely unmolested drilling continued in the seventh with Clottey breaking up Pacquiao’s thumping attacks with rare but clean right hands – much too rare to prevent the champion from pocketing another round. It’s true to say that Clottey blocked a significant amount of what came at him, but his inability to throw back with any consistency was making for a ridiculously easy-to-score world championship contest, corroborated by Clottey’s trainer Lenny DeJesus who told his charge “we’re losing every round,” after another lopsided eighth frame.

A deflated Clottey tried to open up a little in the ninth and tenth rounds but he was immediately set upon both times and reverted back to his hands up survival stance, allowing Pacquiao to continue his whitewash.

Finally, in the penultimate round, Clottey stepped on the gas and took a chance. He dropped his hands from his ears and thumped Pacquiao with a series of hard punches. The champion, like he had done in fight after fight since he blasted his way onto the world stage against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003, happily answered back and clattered the Ghanaian with a vicious onslaught of punches – ripping back any momentum that Clottey may have gained.

With a clear, insurmountable lead on the cards, Pacquiao emerged for the 12th and final frame with typical gusto and forced his fists towards the body and head of a retreating Clottey, ending the fight just as he had begun, in complete control.

Scores: 120-108; 119-109; 119-109

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