Well — now what?
Where does Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO) go after cruising so easily
to a unanimous decision win over welterweight contender Joshua Clottey
(35-4, 20 KO) at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Saturday?
The NFL team’s owner Jerry Jones has his answer — right back to the
$1.2 billion stadium in Arlington, Texas, for a mega-fight with Floyd
Mayweather Jr.
“I think, God willing, we could have a fight here that would beat the
NBA All-Star game, which was over 108,000 people,” Jones said
following Saturday’s fight. “I believe we can have a fight that would do
that.”
Pacquiao looked every bit a fighter in need of a tougher challenge
Saturday, dominating Clottey from one exchange to the next and winning
every round on one judge’s scorecard. The other two judges each awarded
Clottey one round.
The fight was so lacking in difficulty that it actually frustrated
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who criticized Clottey for the
defensive strategy he used from the opening bell.
“If it was my fighter, I would be disappointed in him that a world
title was on the line and he didn’t try to win,” Roach said. “I would
rather die trying to win than just survive. It’s hard to knock a guy out
when all he’s trying to do is survive, and that’s what he did from the
start.”
Clottey threw just 399 total punches in the fight, landing 108 of
them. Pacquiao, on the other hand, threw 1,231 total punches and landing
246.
Although Pacquiao was favored to win the fight, there were concerns
he might have trouble with Clottey’s size advantage.
That proved not to be the case, however, as Clottey’s inactivity
prevented him from ever posing a serious threat.
“Sure, we pitched a shutout against a middleweight,” Roach said. “But
that middleweight should have used his (expletive) power. Let’s face
it, I’m frustrated he didn’t show up to fight.”
Clottey, who appeared for the post-fight press conference, had no
apologies for his performance and marveled at the speed Pacquiao showed
during their fight.
To the Ghanaian fighter, it was the kind of speed that would give
Mayweather trouble should the two ever meet.
“I lost a fight for the first time tonight,” Clottey said. “All of
the last ones I didn’t think I lost, but I lost to Manny Pacquiao."
“I’m going to be frank — I’m a very, very strong fighter and I
prepared hard for this fight. But Manny is too fast. I think he would
give (Mayweather) lots of problems,” he said.
Mayweather was originally supposed to fight Pacquiao this weekend,
but that fight fell through in January after the two sides were unable
to reach an agreement on Mayweather’s demands that Pacquiao undergo
Olympic-style drug testing.
Pacquiao went on to take Saturday’s fight against Clottey while
Mayweather signed a deal to face Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden
Arena on May 1.
Both fighters took heat when the fight fell through. Some said
Pacquiao should simply agree to blood tests if he had nothing to hide,
while others accused Mayweather of using Pacquiao’s fear of needles to
avoid facing him.
According to Roach’s theory, neither story is right.
Roach believes that Mayweather, who ended a near two-year absence
from boxing last September by coming out of retirement to face Juan
Manuel Marquez, needed extra time to prepare for a fight with Pacquiao.
“I don’t think he’s scared,” Roach said. “My thoughts on it are he
needed more time. Getting one fight under your belt isn’t enough to get
you sharp to fight a guy like Manny Pacquiao. The blood tests are all
(expletive). He doesn’t care about that.”
Now that the Clottey fight is over, Roach has expressed a desire to
sign a fight with Mayweather, even if the undefeated fighter loses to
Mosley this spring.
If negotiations fall through again, Roach said, there are other
options for Pacquiao, including a third meeting with Marquez and
undefeated prospect Edwin Valero. But none of them hold much weight
compared to a meeting with Mayweather.
According to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, that fight will remain
doomed if Mayweather again insists on changing the drug-testing rules
himself.
“Manny wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., but if that fight takes
place, it will be because both fighters sign the contract and all the
extraneous issues are not raised,” Arum said. “The issue of drug testing
is not for one fighter to raise. There are honorable people who are
charged with the policy of administering items such as drug testing.”
While Roach agrees in not giving up to Mayweather’s demands, he said
that the parties involved will only get so many shots to work out their
differences before the public gives up on the fight and moves on.
“Every time (Pacquiao and Mayweather) fight somebody else, it will
fade and people will be less interested in that fight,” Roach said. “It
has to happen now.”
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
