Roach sees Pacquiao-Clottey fight as being a better fight than Pacquiao vs. Mayweather
January 21st, 2010
By Daved Lahr: Freddie Roach, the trainer of Manny Pacquiao, sees the March 13th match-up between former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey and current WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao as being the better fight for fans compared to a bout between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., which was going to take place on the same date. That fight didn’t happen because Mayweather and Pacquiao couldn’t agree on the random blood testing for the fight. In an article at Fight Hype, Roach says “This is a much better fight for the fans, I think, and for the people…He [Clottey] is the number one contender, he’s completely the opposite of what Mayweather brings to the table.”
Mayweather wouldn’t just stand in front of Pacquiao all night long covering up and throwing combinations every once in awhile. Mayweather would be blasting Pacquiao and taking advantage of Pacquiao’s mistakes as he presses the fight. I think it would be interesting to watch how Pacquiao tries to deal with Mayweather’s movement and counter punching.
Pacquiao looked awful in his two fights with Juan Manuel Marquez, taking a lot of shots and appearing to lose both fights in the minds of many boxing fans. I had Marquez winning both of those bouts. Some people think that Pacquiao has gotten better in the past two years since his controversial 12 round split decision over Marquez in 2008. However, Pacquiao looks like the same fighter to me, only bigger.
I don’t think a fight where Pacquiao is drilling a stationary and/or plodding Clottey as more interesting than a fight against Mayweather. That sounds silly. I don’t know how Roach can honestly believe that boxing fans would rather see Pacquiao face someone who either stands in one place with his gloves glued to his head of plods forward at as snail’s pace.
To me, that seems more like the last few opponents that have been matched against Pacquiao. Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto all stood right in front of Pacquiao using very little movement and they were all eaten alive. Cotto did try moving in the 2nd part of his fight with Pacquiao and had some limited success.
But Cotto isn’t a mover and he didn’t do a good job of punching on the move like Mayweather would have done in the same situation. I could see the Pacquiao-Clottey fight being better than a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao if Manny chose to stand right in front of Clottey all night and slug with him.
But Pacquiao will use his in and out movement to beat Clottey. Pacquiao won’t really attack hard until Clottey becomes completely tired out and immobile late in the fight. But I don’t see that as more interesting than Mayweather-Pacquiao. It just seems like Pacquiao’s team have found another stationary fighter for Pacquiao to look good against. I would much prefer to see Mayweather-Pacquiao or at least Pacquiao matched against someone like Marquez or Paul Williams.
Tags: Mayweather-Pacquiao, Pacquiao vs. Clottey ,Floyd Mayweather Jr, Joshua Clottey, Manny Pacquiao64 Responses to “Roach sees Pacquiao-Clottey fight as being a better fight than Pacquiao vs. Mayweather”
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bias much???…..have you watched all of mannies fights? and is floyyd realy that good?….. today is the 14th of march 2010 i have just watched the fight between clottey and pacquiao and feel that roach was wrong…it wasnt exiting it could have been if clottey did something other than block but give manny more credit if he has been the one to beat for a while now and no one can topple him…it’s only a matter of time until manny and floyyd jr fight but until then shut all of your traps unless you have been in the ring with these guys and seen it live and trained along side both of them only then will you partialy know what both of them are capable of, they both have different skills and weakneses and have both yet seen a match for their skills…..so stop being bias and watch the boxing enjoy it and dont be sour because a little asian guy is the king of the world
PBF shows only that his town is a land of murmuring cowards!!!
Pbf is an insult to himself,a stint to the Mayweather’s, and a contradiction to America the land of the brave. Hey!!! coward and cohorts go somewhere a place where you can hide and practice your trade, terorizing. lol
Hey 1984 Silver Medalist,
Just curious. Who do you respect? Mayweather Senior or yourself?
Mayweather chose not to fight against Manny. Period. I hope he will change his mind soon. It will be very interesting as two fighters are extra ordinary.
motownhitman. I am so sad the pacman-pbf fight did not materialize. But you should be happy as the pacman would really make the chicken look for a hole to hide like what he’s doing now. It is you who is very poor in understanding boxing because you may be enjoying the way pbf punches and dances but really avoiding being hit. So scared to be hit. All pbf knows in boxing is good only for whom he face before manny pacquiao came. So boring.
Freddie was right. Mayweather could never perform what many of his fans expected him to do against the Pacman. With another opponent maybe Mayweather was awesome. But against Manny, the Pacman could easily make Mayweather behave like a scared chicken looking for a corner to hide. And Mayweather is very much aware of that, mind you. That is why Mayweather is making many alibi to face the Pacman in the ring.
That’s right! He is a hypocrite. He said that JMM was the best fighter before their fight but he was’nt afraid that JMM might use drugs too. He said that the pacman is only a one dimensional fighter but he is not willing to face him in the ring. Now he fights Malignaggi who was beaten by Hatton whom he already beat before. Surely he will always come out UNDEFEATED. YOU HYPOCRITE.
Of course pbf was known to be faster, smarter than clottey. But pbf cowers at the sight of the pacman. I noticed his hairs raising after the pacman cotto fight. The boxing fans were eagerly expecting for the fight to happen but that is impossible if one fighter is already cuckling like woody woodpecker. The boxing arena is for the brave fighters. It is never a place for cowards.
Roach has completely gone off the deep end. This fight is a joke the same as Roach is. Roach left Manny out in front to deal wth the Steroid/PEDS/HGH claims when he, Alex Ariza both provide Manny everything he injests.
I have NO respect for Freddie Roach as a trainer.
Pacquiao and Clottey is a joke. The only way Clottey can win is to score a lucky KO punch.
Even if he oupointed Pacquiao, (which wouldn’t happen) the judges would still give it to Pacquiao.
What a joke!!!
motownhitman, i agree with you. thats why i said casual fans. i dont wanna watch a tough man contest. but you can be technical, have skill and still possess power., ali, pacquiao among many others have shown that. to ignore that Manny has grown as a boxer is just “hate”. Pacman WAS a one dimensional fighter relying on his left hand only, a poor man’s Duran then. Roach has made him to be a better fighter. he has shown great balance and footwork. phenomal combinations as good and creative as PBF. power using both hands from crazy angles. his defense has improved. his “mini” rope a dope against cotto was ali-like. scared me and his other fans thinking it was a bad strategy, but hey. his last few fights have showed that he may not be as skilled as PBF (only according to his fans), but he ISNT the one dimensional fighter anymore. He clearly outboxed, outperformed and destroyed Cotto, Hatton, Oscar and Diaz. they all said they couldnt see the puches. how is that not the pure essence of the sweet science of boxing?
Old $kool Playa..I prefer to watch the Sweet Science…not taking anything away from Pac but I prefer a thinking fight than a street fight.
lol the number one contender who was whooped by cotto who was embarrassed by pacman… cotto would have easily killed clottey if a head butt didnt cut his eye… clottey will not make it past the 4 round and this fight is going to be terrible… i find it funny how everyone is trying to talk this fight up….
Like the whole world, there IS nothing better than the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight. but for casual fans, Roach is right that this will be a better fight. it can be fought in a phone booth. mano y mano. both are willing to close the gap and trade big punches. the chances of a clottey upset may be slim, but in this kind of fight anything can happen and 1 punch can change the fight. it is a true risk. for the pbf/pacman fight, well fraud will run all night. be afraid to mix it up and try to STEAL a decision, it will be more boring. like i say, hate Manny all you want, people would rather watch fights like Pacman/diaz, oscar, hatton, cotto. that is what you expect out of a true great champion. someone who punishes and destroys the competition. would you rather watch Manny, Tyson or Big George Foreman, or guys like Fraud, Hector Camacho, Calzaghe and the later Sugar Ray Leonard. i think i know who most fans would prefer
It’s called marketing, Davey Boy. Of course Freddie’s not going to slag off his buck’s fight.
Common sense, man!
I agree this isn’t as competitive a match up as Floyd. But to say Pac is the same fighter as he was a couple years ago? I can’t agree with that statement.
He’s added a considerable amout to his arsenal. It wasn’t long ago he was considered primarily a left hooker, just the improvement in his right alone has made him considerably more dangerous. (Or as Hatton put it; Right hand roll under, same move every time)
This is a guy who was born with the natural talent, has the work ethic & met the right trainer at the right time to bring it all out of him.
There there, David, cry like a little girl, spill it all out, I completely understand.
PBF will find another excuse not to fight Shane Mosley.All this talk about him fighting shane is all smoke screen.
boxing fan..change your name to pacfan..because it is obvious you know nothing about boxing.
motownhitman are you patronizing floyd?are you a chicken too?he keeps on belittling pacquiao and yet he’s afraid on fight him!what kind of logical sanity is that?he’s a coward that’s it.the loudest man in the room is the weakest.
This is a better fight for the reason that two boxers will be facing each other unleashing punches.In comparison to the failed fight, which is most likely a punch and chase or
punch and dance.
Ok it is official, half of you on here are idiots, a quarter of you are fools another 10% of you are jackazzes while only 15% actually have common sense.
Shao – Clottey never held the WBO WW title
TotoyBato – JMM looked slow when he fought Floyd because Floyd makes people look bad. Consider for a moment that prior to moving up to fight at WW JMM fought at 135 twice while Pac only fought at 135 once so based upon that who would seem better suited to move up to WW. Consider this…JMM moved up to fight the #1 fighter in the world FLOYD..while Pac moved up to fight a DLH who hadn’t fought at 147 in 8 years not to mention people were already calling him over the hill after his fight with Floyd.
Chris – get your head out of your azz…better fight than Floyd?? uhh is that because you want to see Pac in a fight he has a chance to win?
mikeeee09 – uhh if Floyd only clinches, why is his KO rate 12% higher than Clottey’s?
jeckyl – do you know the meanding of showmanship?? Perhaps you need to use a dictionary before posting next time.
wowzabean – have you actually watched Clottey fight? He certainly doesn’t run, but he doesn’t throw many punches either, he tires out, he isn’t agressive and lacks power.
Mandy – Did you actually watch the Cotto/Clottey fight? Cotto was fighting with one eye for most of the fight yet Clottey managed to lose! Don’t try to hype Clottey up so to make Pac look better when he beats him.
Are you blind? When Marquez fought Mayweather, Marquez was too slow compared to his previous fights because of his weight,and Mayweather was bigger because he was over the weight limit. I never saw Mayweather fought like a boxer, I saw him always running.
You seem know what pacquiao will do during the fight. I think your predictions before regarding are all wrong.
This will be more exciting fight than with Floyd Mayweather Jr. I can’t wait to see this fight together with the awesome venue.
thats crazy how can a “tomato can” fighter make a better fight then one of the great fighter of all time can somebody explain that because if is like that forget i will be seeing ufc for now on.
khan isn’t a name.
Yeah right,thats like saying hamburgers are better than steak.Roach is full of sh@it.
Floyd Does not box at all he just shove, push, potshot and run. Clotty however is tough as nail.
floyd is the only chicken who knows how to clinch,
hey writter are you a desendant of chicken floyd?
I have a gut feeling that this fight may unfold like the castillo vs. coralles fight. If its anything near that type of fight the fifty bucks will be worth it. Two guys not afraid of the other trading will be far worth more than a mayweather fight were he’ ll clinch Shane after every exchange.
who ever wrote this is not thinking, wake up writter, or you should fight pacquiao, big mouth
Clottey has Lots of balls. Floyd is just a chicken that loves to run hailed from RUN-RAPID MICHICKEN
The Pacquiao-Clottey will be a physical and tough fight for many reasons, like the physical statue of Clottey trying to bully Pacquiao. There would be a holding, a pushing and always charging on him. And for Manny he will do what he did to Cotto and then some, like not to get hit in the early round. Josua’s physical statue will be a factor for him to gain advantage. Josh is way bigger than Cotto. I like this fight way better than Pacquiao-Mayweather, because there is no showmanship. A challenger who try to prove and hungry for belt and a champion who try to prove his greatness. It will be a grinding match, i’ll tell you.
My thing is how can a trainer say this fight is gonna be better than that fight and he’s not the one who’s fighting and how he looking pass Clottey to other fights who’s to say Pacman gonna get pass Clottey…..
wow and george foreman lost to mohammed ali….. does that mean if i beat ali now i am better than george foreman from 30 years ago?
Clottey is a good fighter. He lost to Baldomir when he got disqualified but he was out boxing Baldomir. Clottey lost to Margarito because he hurt his hands and his punch output went down. He should have used xylocaine like other fighters would. He would have won. Then Clottey against Cotto was a split decision. Others viewed it as Clottey won that fight. Clottey does punch in combination. Watch his fights. It’s just he ran out of gas. Clottey will train harder for this fight. This will be an exciting fight. Will he be good enough. That is the question.
Judah knock down floyd, but Clotty beat Judah therefore Clotty is better trhan floyd. simple as that…
@ Shao
come on dude, Cotto won that fight while blinded in one eye for 3 quarters of the fight. At best you can say it was a close fight, but should it have been close considering he was fighting a 1 eyed apponent? Clottey should have won it but he didnt. That shows a lot about his charachter as a fighter….. he may go 12 rounds with Pac because he is like a piece of rock, he might stand there with his high guard and take everything Pac has but he has nothing more to offer than that
Freddie roach makes a good point. Clotty is one hell of a fighter. he beat miguel cotto in the eyes of many which mayweather wouldn’t have a chance had they happend to face each other.
Clotty was a welterweight champ before he lost to cotto. Now he hunts the belt that he use to own.
its funny that in one hand roach wants the floyd fight but on the other, roach complains that floyd’s a runner. what he’s really trying to say is that floyd is all bad for manny. manny looks great against those who stand and trade. too bad clottey has the defense and chin to negate manny’s power. manny might win but in the end he loses. clottey is gonna take a lot of fight out of manny. the kind of fight manny can’t replace.
Floyd n pac will be among the greatest of this decade period!!!
quit dave ur not a writer ur a hater gtfo
Pac may run for president next year u think he cares wat all this ppl think of him??? Lol
I think you need to watch this link to see what Roach is like when it comes to picking apponents. you will see that Roach is just looking to exploit any fighter that Manny fights in order to get an avantage for Pacman….. check out when it gets to 7 minutes into the clip and you will see why he didnt want to fight Mosley at 147 and wanted to fight a weakened Mosley at 142 even though Manny had fought Oscar at 147
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBWNOyrHKKo
watch and let me know what you think
I feel sorry for these pacquiao haters and floyd pussies. They just couldn’t stomach to see Pacman being appreciated by the whole world.
Drool you Pac-haters,… drool like floyd cause that’s all there is for you to quench the pain and the suffering since floyd never gonna get and achieve where and what Pacman did in the history of boxing.
I can see Freddie Roach’s mindset! Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an expert at taking people out of their game plan. Freddie knows the deck is not stacked for Manny against the likes of Floyd!
aryou related to liam santiago or manuel perez?
SURE HE GONNA SAY THAT. MAN PAC PROBABLY WANT KNOCK HIM OUT OR TKO CLOTTLEY BUT HE SURE WILL OUT PUNCH HIM,CLOTTLEY DOESN’T LET HIS HAND GO HE TOO DEFENSIVE EASY WHEN FOR PAC. TO ROACH COME ON DAWG U AND THE WHOLE WORLD NO PAC SHINE HAS BEEN TAKEN CUZ OF THE FIGHT
Pac man blatenly won the first fight, one of the judges made a mistake so the first one should have been a win for pac and not a draw.
Of course its a better fight for pac. Roach likes for him to fight guys that will just stand right in front of him. He hates to go against movers or boxers because they give him problems and roach knows this, clottey is the perfect match up for pac.
Of course Clottey is a better fight (for Pacquiao) than Mayweather, because Clottey wount be beating is ass down like Mayweather would have.
Agree, Roach need to stop it…. Clottey will get his azz kicked. we all agree on that who care if he will win a round or two.
Roach is always saying, this and that is better than the Mayweather fight. First Cotto will be tougher than the Mayweather fight, but he wants all this extra time and training for Mayweather. Everyone knows the Clottey/Pac fight is a sham. Clottey doesn’t throw punches and runs out of steam late in fights.
Since when is Clottey an action fighter? He doesn’t throw punches. That’s why he lost to Cotto. HE DOESN’T THROW PUNCES!!
Pacquiao had trouble with JMM because he is a counter puncher and counters with combination while Floyd counters with one or two punches then hides, grabs, runs. Clottey will be a better match because there will be action. Floyd will just run all night and Manny chasing him. It’s boxing, not a tag game.
@August you said it!! how can a “human” become a “beast” ?? just like Mark, Sosa and Bonds!
To the Writer,
Do not even mention Marquez anymore because Pacquiao is a totally different beast now. Marquez is eefective as featherweight as well as Pacquiao BUT Pacquiao now is is now a welterweight champ and he is the king now. No comparison please. Pacquiao can move-up-and-down in weight but still efective. Marquez is history now, only because he was able to compete with Pacquiao and you think he’s better than Pacquiao, i dont think so.
bored+
I added that Arum part, because i`m boring and this article is lame, had to spice it up a bit!!! you should say thank you!
Roach?? the name tells you everything, need i say more? if he doesn`t say that “Arum” will get angry!!!
Arum doesn`t care about Manny, Arum is a business man and Manny is one of his “assets” Arum is no worst then Don King, you think Arum cares about Manny? lol he cares about the $$$, just like everybody thought that Don King cared about “Mike Tyson” don’t confuse yourself with personal feelings and business, cause those two don`t mix.
What Freddie means in “better fight” is in terms of EXCITEMENT.
Watching Floyd run is NOT exciting.
Toe-to-toe action that Clottey brings is more of a throwback fight and many fans like to watch that.
Also the writer forgets to COUNT how many time Marquez was on his TRUNKS against Pac which is why he thinks the score was wrong.
The second thing he forgets is the LEARNING CURVE of Pacman: he is WAY BEYOND the straight left hand he fought Marquez with.
Who is that idiot Roach trying to kid?