Pacquiao dominates: Win over Clottey sets stage for fight with Mayweather

Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao dominated tough Joshua Clottey for 12 straight rounds Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) to easily win by unanimous decision at the Cowboys Stadium.

Immediately after the fight, Pacquiao reiterated his readiness to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. should the American fighter win on May 1 against Shane Mosley.

“I want the fight, because the people want to see the fight. But it’s up to [Mayweather] if he wants to fight me,” Pacquiao said in a post-fight interview.

“It’s not a problem for me to fight him; we’re ready to fight at any time. But I don’t think he’s ready to fight. Someday he’ll be ready to fight.”

But Pacquiao said Mayweather would have to beat Mosley, otherwise he will be fighting the 38-year-old holder of the World Boxing Association (WBO) version of the welter title.

Pacquiao outpunched Clottey at least 3-1 to shut out the rugged Ghanaian challenger before an overflow crowd at the state-of-the-art Cowboys Arena. Organizers said 50,994 people came to see the fight, the third biggest live gate in US boxing history.

The Filipino defending WBO welterweight champion, pummeled Clottey with blazing combinations to the body and the head, but the granite-chinned Clottey, his trademark peek-a-boo defense at its best, was never in serious trouble.

In some instances, Pacquiao mimicked the defensive stance of Clottey and allowed him to punch away at him—just to create openings in the challenger’s solid defense. But the defense-minded Ghanaian deftly refused to trade punches with the champion.

By the seventh round, Clottey’s trainer Lennie de Jesus was begging his fighter “to take chances,” but Clottey seemed content to preserve his never-been-stopped reputation rather than risk trading punches with the explosive Pacquiao.

In the ninth and 10th rounds, Clottey threw more punches than usual, scoring with straight right hands and left uppercuts. But every time he attacks, Pacquiao responded with blazing combinations of his owns, preventing Clottey from establishing any semblance of momentum.

The fight came alive in the 11th and 12th rounds as Clottey was willing to trade more punches. But again, Pacquiao would force him to his defensive stance with blazing combination to the head and body.

Generous in victory, Pacquiao—whose record improved to 51-3-2, with 38 knockouts—later described Clottey as a “good fighter” with pop in his punches.

“He [Clottey] is tough. He is strong and he can punch,” said Pacquiao, the only boxer to win seven world titles in different weight divisions.

Clottey, who showed tremendous respect for Pacquiao’s punching power, said in the post-fight interview that he deliberately avoided taking risks because he got hit by Pacquiao’s quick hands every time he mounted an attack.

The challenger said Pacquiao was “the best fighter I ever fought,” and admitted the Filipino icon’s speed made the difference in the one-sided contest.

“He is really fast. This is the first time where I believe I lost a fight,” said Clottey 35-4, with 20 knockouts. “He was waiting for me to open to counter me. I couldn’t land my power punches on him, because he was so fast.” The Manila Times