Manny Pacquiao Defends His Title
Manny Pacquiao has defended his WBO welterweight title with a comfortable points victory over Joshua Clottey in Dallas. The Filipino scored a 120-108, 119-109, 119-109 but could not find Clottey’s breaking point as he maintained his proud record of never having been stopped.
The Ghanaian entered the ring with a flamboyant dance but he failed to show as much imagination once the fight started and Pacquiao was always on top.
“He’s a very tough opponent. He was looking for a big shot,” Pacquiao said after the fight, which took place in front of a crowd of 50,994, the biggest in the US for 17 years.
Pacquiao also revealed the he still has hopes that a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr may still go ahead. “I want that fight, the world wants that fight, but it’s up to him,” he told Associated Press.
The pattern Saturday’s fight would take was established early in the first round when, despite Clottey’s peek-a-boo defence, Pacquiao still managed to advance against his taller opponent and throw punches with both hands from all angles. It was the same style that gave him spectacular wins in his past three fights and though Clottey was clearly the bigger fighter, he rarely sought to use his reach advantage.
Clottey’s corner was urging him to take some risks late on but even in the final round, when he needed a knockout to win, the Ghanaian only sparingly dropped his guard.
Courtesy of the Guardian
Watch Highlights from the fight:
Manny Pacquiao Takes On More Than Boxing
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao is a rarity – a man who fights with a smile stitched onto his face.
The Filipino fighting icon still enjoys soaring popularity, in spite of the collapse of his much anticipated contest this year with Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
Pacquiao’s last few weeks leading into his match-up with Ghanaian Joshua Clottey have seen him in the public spotlight.
There have been nearly 240,000 hits on You Tube watching Manny sing on Jimmy Kimmel Live . That number is growing by the hour.
It was a little bit like karaoke, but what do I know ? Pacquiao’s courage certainly knows no bounds.
Manny has had busloads of celebrities visiting his training camp, including the actors Jeremy Piven, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal,Robert Duvall and Ron Perlman (Hell Boy movies).
“It has been the place to be,” one camp insider told me earlier today. Undefeated No. 1 light-middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. watched Manny work out last Friday. Clearly, Pacquiao has no fear. But I think he should stick to the day job.
The Filipino world will stop revolving once more and grind to a halt when the great fighter steps through the ropes to contest another title, having dispatched Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto in his last three contests.
Later today, a specially designed plane will charter 100 Pacquiao VIPs into Dallas, and the fighting team will travel in a specially designed tour bus.
It promises to be some spectacle. One only hopes that there is one man who is not reading the script…one Joshua Clottey, because everyone is hoping that they will get to see a fight at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Courtesy of The Telegraph
Pacquiao’s New Opponent
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao will fight March 13 at Cowboys Stadium, but not against Floyd Mayweather.
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said he has finalized a deal to match Pacquiao against Joshua Clottey in a welterweight bout at the new US$1.2 billion stadium.
Arum moved swiftly to land a lucrative fight for his Filipino star after his contentious negotiations for a megafight with Mayweather fell apart in a prolonged dispute over blood testing.
Arum was in Texas over the weekend to wrap up details for the pay-per-view fight, which will be the first boxing match in the stadium. Top Rank spokesman Lee Samuels said the arena will be configured to seat 50,000 fans for the fight, but the capacity could be raised or lowered.
“This stadium has blown me away,” Arum said. “It is the most magnificent facility I’ve ever seen.”
Arum took in the Dallas Cowboys’ playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday night, sitting just two seats from former President George W. Bush. Arum said Bush had the same reaction he’s heard repeatedly since negotiations with Mayweather bogged down
“Too bad you didn’t get Mayweather, but what difference does it make?” Arum said Bush told him. “Everybody just wants see Pacquiao anyway.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reportedly offered a US$25 million site fee for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, which fell apart over Mayweather’s insistence on stringent drug testing and Pacquiao’s reluctance to agree. The sides went into mediation to resolve the dispute, but a compromise couldn’t be reached.
And though Arum is a longtime New York Giants season ticket-holder, he found common ground with Jones for another major event in the opulent new stadium.
“This is a competitive fight, as competitive as the Cotto fight going in,” Arum said. “We got a tremendous deal at the site. It’s a big event, and I think we’ll do unbelievable.”
Although Mayweather’s representatives still were holding out hope the Pacquiao fight could be salvaged, Mayweather also is expected to fight March 13 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, which would have been the site of his bout with Pacquiao. Paulie Malignaggi has been the most popular contender for that fight.
Although Clottey has no fraction of Mayweather’s fame, he’s a worthy welterweight opponent for Pacquiao, widely considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The hard-hitting Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs), a native of Ghana who lives in New York, is coming off a split-decision loss to Miguel Cotto last June, a fight that some felt Clottey won.
Cotto went on to take a thrashing from Pacquiao in November, losing when the fight was stopped in the final round.
Courtest of CBCsport
HAVE YOUR SAY: Is Arum being arrogant or do you think the audience really only wanted to see Pacquiao?
Loading ...
