I'm not a boxing fan (protagonists intend to physically hurt each other to win) but the news and analyses about the result of Pacquiao's win over Clottey are all over the internet. Here's one interesting piece by a contributor to the RazRez website:
. . . . .Sunday 14th March 2010
by RazRez Contributor
In what was billed as The Fight that would test Manny Pacquiao, Ghana born boxer Joshua Clottey did anything but. For twelve full rounds, the bigger Clottey kept his guard up, giving Pacquiao nothing to hit, but at the same time, depriving himself of a chance at a real fight.
So, while Manny peppered away at Clottey, throwing at times over a hundred punches per round (Manny ended up averaging a little over a hundred punches thrown per round, which is unheard of in the welterweight division), Clottey steadfastly maintained his defensive posture, breaking it only from time to time to throw a little bit here and there. The world hasn’t seen such deliberate inaction since a washed up Ali fought a prime Larry Holmes.
At some point past the midway of the fight, a seemingly bored Jim Lampley tried to inject some excitement into the broadcast by yelling “bang, bang, bang” every time Pacquiao threw a punch. It didn’t matter that the punches were blocked; evidently, Lampley was trying anything to stir up excitement.
Emmanuel Stewart thought Pacquiao fought a good fight in that he did what he had to do to win the fight against a fighter determined to cover up for the entire twelve rounds. In the end, though Manny won all twelve rounds (how two judges gave Clottey one round each is beyond me), many felt that the fight was a massive let down, given Pacquiao’s prolific knock out performances leading to this fight. And perhaps that was on Clottey’s mind throughout the fight. Perhaps he didn’t want to take a premature nap, courtesy of a Pacquiao left. Or right.
When asked of his tactics, Clottey responded to Kellerman that he thought Manny was too fast, so he didn’t want to risk anything. Perhaps Clottey trainer DeJesus put it best when he said that he believes his fighter felt Pacquiao’s punching power and was determined not to end up crashing on the canvas as did Pacquiao’s previous opponents.
Unfortunately for fight fans, Clottey’s concern over Pacquiao’s speed and power resulted in a fight that in Clottey’s own words, was “the only fight he lost,” alluding to the fact that he still feels that his three losses on record are questionable. Well, when you lose all twelve rounds, what else can you say?
Well folks, for those clamoring for a Pacquiao Mayweather showdown, as evidenced by the roaring crowd when Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach called out Floyd, you might want to think about that again. Floyd may not cover up in Frankenstein fashion as Clottey did, but Floyd will run. And run, and run and run. It will end up just like this fight. A boring twelve rounds of one guy trying to fight another. And that other guy has nothing but self preservation in their mind. Bottom line: Mayweather is just like Clottey except he has faster feet. And unlike Clottey who moved forward from time to time, Mayweather will always move backward. Is that really a fight anyone wants to see?
Source: http://razrez.com/sports/pacquiao-clottey-let-down/
No comments:
Post a Comment