Dominant Pacquiao beats Clottey
Manny Pacquiao dominated Joshua Clottey from the opening bell to retain his WBO welterweight title before 50,994 fans at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas.One ringside judge gave Filipino Pacquiao every round, while the two others gave him all but one.
Ghana's Clottey kept his gloves up high in front of his face and rarely risked going on the offensive.
The strategy got him to the final bell, but he was never competitive in the biggest fight of his career.
"He's a very defensive fighter," said Pacquiao. "I was looking for a strategy to beat that defence, like body shots, uppercuts. It worked.
"Clottey is not an easy opponent - he is very strong. He took a lot of punches and was never hurt."
Clottey employed terrible tactics and did little to try and win the fight - he did not have the tools or the gameplan to trouble Manny PortsmouthPrince Trainer Freddie Roach was less complimentary towards Clottey, who threw 398 punches during the fight compared to 1,231 by the champion. saying: "When you fight for the world title it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"I thought he would have thrown more punches. He was in survival mode and when a guy is trying to survive it is hard to knock him out."
Pacquiao was only fighting Clottey because a proposed super-fight against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr fell through because of a dispute over blood testing.
"I want that fight, the world wants that fight, but it's up to him," Pacquiao said.
The tone of his fight against Clottey was set early, with Pacquiao advancing against his taller opponent and throwing punches with both hands from all angles.
It was the same style that gave him spectacular wins in his past three fights, while Clottey rarely sought to use his reach advantage.
His corner was urging him late in the fight to take some risks, but even in the final round when he needed a knockout to win, he only sparingly dropped his guard.
On the undercard in Dallas, Mexico's Humberto Soto claimed the WBC lightweight title with a dominant unanimous decision over American David Diaz.
Date published :
14 Mar 2010 - 06:28:15
