Clottey vs. Pacquiao: Joshua needs to attack Manny’s body
February 10th, 2010
By Dave Lahr: I’ve done an exhausting study of World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s last 10 fights stretching over the last four years and I’ve discovered that few of Pacquiao’s opponents have even tried to land to his body. The vast majority of them have been pure head hunters. What they don’t understand is that Pacquiao’s weakness isn’t his head, it’s his body. That’s where challenger Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KO’s) needs to direct his attention if he wants to beat Pacquiao on March 13th in their fight at the Dallas Cowboy stadium.
What Clottey should do is fake Pacquiao with right hands to the head, and then come downstairs with hooks to the body to take the life out of Pacquiao. Manny doesn’t like getting hit in the midsection. That’s something I’ve noticed. You hit him in the head, and you’re fine. But if you tag him in the belly, Pacquiao reacts as if you pulled the plug out of his energy stores.
He backs off and gets a look on his face that seems to suggest that he’s in pain. Luckily for Pacquiao, the only opponent that worked on Pacquiao’s body in the past 10 or so years was Mexican great Erik Morales. He beat Pacquiao going to the body in 2005. However, Morales was weight drained in his two rematches with Pacquiao, and not in the position to win the fight because of the huge amount of weight he had to take off to get in shape.
Okay, so Clottey needs to forget all about trying to blast Pacquiao’s head. All he’ll do is wind up hurting his hands. Instead, Clottey needs to chase Pacquiao around for five or six rounds throwing nothing but body shots as hard as he can. I wouldn’t even try to have Clottey pace himself. Forget that. Clottey needs to think of the fight as a six round bout instead of a 12 rounder.
He should go all out for six rounds and tear into Pacquiao’s body with both fists. I think if he does this, Pacquiao will wilt quickly and will be in full retreat from the shots. Any offense that Pacquiao might have had will be turned off because of Clottey’s massive body attack. If Clottey fights tooth and nail attacking Pacquiao’s body, I think Clottey has a good chance of stopping Pacquiao with a body shot.
Freddie Roach, the trainer for Pacquiao, isn’t prepared for an opponent that will be going after Pacquiao’s weakness. Roach will clueless what to do other than telling Pacquiao to return fire. That won’t work, because Clottey, if he digs in hard with his left hooks to the bread basket of Pacquiao, will weaken him to the point where he’s as harmless as a kitten.
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have you ever watch a boxing match? i understand you favor one fighter over another, but all your writings are baseless, all bias… i should be writing and not you…. i can’t believe you’re being pay to do this… or are you?
hey writter! I wonder if u were able to watch pacman cotto fight, pacman allowed cotto to give him body shots to test his strength, but pacman took it like he can even drink coffe at the same time.If you think somebody can stop pacman at this stage then you can continue dreaming, not even your daddy floyd can stop the pacman. I think this writter is NAIVE.
I Pinoy root for Clottey. Knock ass out Clottey! March 13 will see upset!
World be shocked!!!
All wishful thinking to beat the Pacman and beating him in the midsection. Even the boxer knowing what to do to defeat the Pacman by beating him in the breadbasket will never ever accomplish that because before that boxer does that he will be beat up already due to the speed of receiving 5-7 punches from the Pacman. The mind is willing but the body will be wasted and in 3-5 rounds all those strategies will be a goner! Pacman is so swift in his punches and moving side to side, in and out, all in one fluid motion. By the middle rounds, everything is moot and academic, the Pacman will go for the kill! Sorry guys, no boxer will ever keep up with the lightning speed of his hands, foot and head in the Pacman era.
No lex,but it is normal for a man’s face to gain some thickness to it the way he has since he’s no longer starving himself to make weight.have any actual facts to go with your conspiracy theories?
Dave Lahr = Supreme Boxing Tactician
MbfromPhilly: Pac ALWAYS had phenomenal power. Now he also has a right hand and boxing smarts.
Is it normal for a 31 year old’s head to still be growing?
So Mexi, you’re admitting that Pacquaio was totally outclassed by Morales’ boxing ability the first fight, and after that fight Morales was no contest for Pacquaio. Freddie Roach claims that after the first Morales fight is when he started to train Pacquaio’s right hand; I have to think about what other programs Roach might’ve started then as well? Pacquaio was clearly a one-dimensional fighter then and his overall style hasn’t changed, he just has incredible power now!! You all know there is definitely something not right with that camp!
LAHR, you are the most biased writer ever…or just someone who can’t respect PAC. ALL of your articles are anti-PAC — “He can’t do this or he can’t do that.”
Refer to the 2-day-before-the-fight blood draw on Manny to see why he lost in 2005. Trying to make weight by not eating or drinking can’t do too much damage, eh?
ALSO, remember Morales’ parting shot in their 3rd battle. Manny knocks him down with 0:10 left in R3… you ever seen a boxer shake their head NO in a fight?
Whatever…..
I don’t think you should even bother trying to put up a game plan for how any of Manny Pacquio’s opponents can win, because according to his fans the man can’t be hurt. Come on, I understand being a fan, but saying no one can hurt him to the body, cause he hits himself with a stick is foolish. The man has lost before and he can loose again; I believe you can seriously hurt Manny to the body, but you have to be persistent with it.
Manny was struggling to make Super Featherweight at the times he was fighting against Morales and Marquez.Even at less than 100% Manny was still putting up a hell of a fight.Look at his in ring weights.They’ve been steady for the past 4 years.Clearly the sign of a juicer if you’ve gone full retard.Enough with the juicing accusations.
As for Manuel”Dave Lahr” Perez’ article,No.Clottey first off won’t be nearly fast enough to attack Manny’s body.And as pointed out,Manny’s torso is beaten with a stick to toughen him up.He relies so much on his being a high stamina fighter and Freddie is well aware of this so they toughen up his midsection.Of course,a liver shot is nearly impossible to stand up against but like i said,Clottey will be too slow and Manny will tear his head up with shots if he reaches in.
Hey writer that won’t work Manny uses in and out and he beats his body with the stick. Get a clue next time.
hit him in the body where that feels numb and get tag with the killer left! Morons think it is that simple!!
everybody ia talking about Morales and Marquez hurting Manny. Guys listen, you are all talking about Manny before He was not fully a two fisted and polished fighter.. Thanks to F. Roach, If Morales and Marquez fight Manny right now. They will KO on early rounds. Clottey best chances is to attack Manny and hit Manny anywhere He can land his glove on. I think if He will focus on one area, it will not work at all, maybe you can hit me one or two on the same place, but sure Manny will not allow it the 3rd time. that is the only chances Clottey got in this fight. It is hard to Fight Manny, that is why He is a P4P king. He got everything, Speed, power, stamina, reflexes and faith. I feel sorry for Clottey. I think he gonna be KO at round 10. I love to see Manny vs Mosley and it will happened soon. Lil Floyd will be TKO by Mosley in late round and Lil Floyd crying that his hand got hurt that is why He losses the fight. Pacquiao vs Mosley in late 2010..
keep it up dave… you’re making Pacquiao more and more famous in every article you write. MORE ARTICLES ON PACQUIAO..
Is the author willing to put money where his mouth is?
Is the author willing to put money where his mouth is?
poor clottey he will end up ko in fighting pacquiao….
Mr. Dave Liar,author, what makes you think your analysis would fly? Morales weight drained in their rematch and in their rubbermatch? Grow up man, you are just looking at the picture in one dimension. You cited reasons of Manny’s victories over Morales in a very negative way instead of admiring his qualities that what really made him win.
Cotto digged in body shots to Pacquiao’s body, the kind of shots that retired a lot of Cotto’s opponents. And then again, you are saying things in one dimension only. Yes, Clottey can concentrate on the body of Pacquiao alright. But notice that Clotter have his hands and arms protecting the font of his face and his midsection most of the time. With that postition, it would be best for him to hit his opponent on the face. While he is in his best defense stance, throwing a punch on the side of body would enable Pacquiao time to shift his defense in his mid-section area. Or Pacquiao would unleash a devastating punch to the head of Clottey before Clottey could land his. Watch the Hatton fight. Hatton wanted to hit Pacquiao on the body. Watch also the Cotto fight, Cotto gave his best shot to the body. Ultimately, Pacquiao finished them before their attempted shots could ever land. And if you think Cotto could concentrate on Pacquiao’s body, you talk like Pacquiao does not have the skill and liberty to do the same to Clottey. So much for your analysis that is only good for the spur of the moment, but with deeper consideration, your thoughts would just vanish like smoke.
You studied his fights? Your kidding right? Well, looks like you didnt really learn anything…pretty sad actually..and satisfying as well to know you dont have brains. lol
Clottey can barely stand up after six rounds in all his fights. After 10 months off he now has a whole month and a half to train. Clottey is sacrificing his body for $1 million. If Clottey actually had time to train and get in shape this could be a good fight, but Manny needed an advantage against a second tier opponent.
I agree with the article.If Clottey can get to the body it will be a long day for Manny.People keep saying Cotto this and that F*%$ Cotto!!!Cotto aint Clottey!!I believe Clottey is better and already proved it!Clottey is a very good defensive fighter people!He dont get hit cleanly or that much!!He is sort of like Winky!!He will return fire,instantly!And gather himself enough to protect himself!!Manny can only hope that he gets tired at the end,because if he can sustain through the fight to the end,decision for Clottey!!He just have to keep fighting the whole fight until the end.I dont see Manny hurting him,but if Pacman knock him out it would be a total shocker to me!!Also Cotto had a chance with his jab but decided to trade blows,A NO NO with Manny especially when you aint a good defensive fighter!!But he made Manny miss throughout the fight!!What will Clottey do?Cotto tried the body later on in the fight,when he was already tired and beat!!If Clottey target early,good things will come!!But Manny still Manny until proven wrong so we’ll see!!If Clottey stick to the script(which he is a good discplined,unrattled,unwaivered fighter)Manny will lose!Manny have to somehow rattle Clottey and i dont think just one punch,or a 6 hit combo that aint land nothing but 2 or 3 will do it!!Jwill you sound about right,if he stick to that,Manny Loses!!
lol honestly, the fact that you talk about manny everyday of your life and writing 2-3 articles about him tells me something… who’s the fan now? you make me laugh..
its either that or he’s so formidable that your so scared that you have to try everything to grab him down to stop him because he and his fans are overwhelming you..
Pacquaio’s weakness is in his defense. He does throw straight punches from the outside: but if you study tape on him you’ll notice that when he’s at mid-range or closer and he’s punching; his head and chin are totally exposed. His last official loss to Morales; Morales sat behind a stiff steady jab and a counterpunching body attack all night long. Pacquaio also struggled against the counterpunching Marquez everytime they fought. So Pacquaio is susceptible to counterpunchers. If Pacquaio can’t hurt Clottey; which we haven’t seen anyone do yet, it can really be a rough night for Pacquaio.
If Clottey goes for the body constantly he’ll be wide open for head shots, which is pacquio’s bread and butter. The reason most fighters haven’t gone for this in the past is because they know they’ll likely get knocked out if they go low. Having said that if Clottey can mix up the head shots with body shots and stand his groud with pacquiao when they go toe-to-toe that will be his best chance..
Pacquaio’s movement in the ring is beautiful to watch, his faints, his fluidity with the movements and the balance to always be in position to punch; it is a thing of beauty to watch. With Clottey however: Pacquaio is gonna be forced into the “middle” so to speak, with Clottey forcing Pacquaio’s lead right foot on the inside of his lead left foot. This subtle aspect of the fight could mean everything. Clottey needs to win the war of positioning in order to land punches with both hands, but this position especially sets up the left hook to the body; and the lead right hand. Clottey is well versed in the handling of lefthanded fighters and he doesn’t take clean shots. I like the competitiveness of this fight, and I respect both men for doing their talking in the ring: “All things being Equal”, may the best man win.
Ye, sure. If clottey is fast enough to do that.
I agree with the writer. People; Pacquaio is an exciting fighter, that much is undeniable. Pacquaio is also a very fundamentally flawed fighter, a good counterpuncher will have success against him. Clottey is a Great counterpuncher! Clottey doesn’t take clean shots in any fight, and his activity level will match that of the opponent in front of him. So if Pacquaio wants to go toe-to-toe, Clottey is more than willing to accomodate him. Pacquaio can fight but is not effective going backwards, Clottey knows this and has vowed to push him back and keep him uncomfortable. Clottey will have an obvious strength advantage in the fight and therefore should be able to do this. Clottey is not a 1 punch knockout puncher, but he is a professional boxer/puncher! The video doesn’t lie! And he can do it to you for 12 long rounds.
this should be directly sent to team clottey for them to assess and exploit manny pacquaios offense and defense skills. surely, this will also fail to again dismay of this author. bring all of them one by one, for manny to destroy and exposed. kill all of them manny!
Is this author a JOKE? Pacman’s abs are as tough as STEEL because he eats “Tinolang Manok, Chicken adobo, pechay and Kanin”. I’ll tell you his weakness, it’s KAMOTE! Make him eat that and you’ll find out! Go google KAMOTE!HAHAHA!
Pacman is the man to beat. It’s amazing how these amatures think they are better than the professional boxing trainers especially, Clottey’s trainer. Amatures should just keep their tactics to themselves. Otherwise, you can send us pics of your fighting in a ring.
hey dave! stick with writing fictions….are you a boxing expert now? don’t you think the other boxers and their trainers haven’t thought of that? what makes yoy think you’re better than them?
Manny is gonna be VERY SPEEDY in this fight COMES WITH POWER. Joshua GOING FOR THE BODY is his only chance i think. The YOUNG Manny Pacquiao has problem with body shot, BUT the Manny Pacquiao of today who is CONSIDERED by many as the “Fighter of the Decade” is a VERY VERY VERY Different Manny compare to the young Manny. Still, “i dont think theres anyone who can beat Manny Pacquiao right now.” I remember the prime of Jordan,Ali,Armstrong,Sampras,….Manny is “One in every generation caliber of talent.” Thats what gives him the ability to EXCITE ENTERTAIN from Round1 to Round12 ACTION PACK Fights.
It is easily said than done! Everytime you belittle the Pacman, either by the haters or his opponent, they loose. You might aswell treat him as a dangerous and difficult fighter to win and prepare. Articles like these are not much of a help to any fighter facing Pacman. Your idea of some body punches are simply wrong. study Pacman as he is today and tailor your game plan accordingly unless of course if you want to loose. amusing article anyway.
BALONEY!!! You’re wasting your time Manuel Perez(DL).
Ohhh.. we all see how many absorb all cotto’s power punch to his body, bu its no effect to him.
He juts stand and accept to be hit, to the BODY or head just to know how hard cotto’s punch.
so targeting the body doesnt solve anything!
Dave,
you are always right with your views and predictions. You’re the best,… the best in the clan,… the clan of retards.
This fight goes this way:
Pac throws 5 to 10 punches at a time. All of which Clottey blocks with his tight Winky Wright like defense. Pacman bounces back out and to the side with his hands down like always. Clottey notices but does nothing early, steady coming forward guard up tight protecting the body and the head.
Pacman unleashes, 1-2-3-4-5-6! again. Clottey blocks all but one or two jabs. This time Clottey unleashes two or three punches of his own, jab, straight right, left hook to the body. This pattern continues all night. Clottey coming forward, tight guard blocking shots while Pacman keeps throwing punches in bunches with a very low connect percentage. Clottey sneaking in two or three shots every other exchange. Pacman is the busier fighter, but most punches getting blocked. Clottey won’t open up, too shook to get caught early on. But the nerves wear off after 6 rounds and Clottey connects often with straight rights (southpaw sucker punch) that will open up left hooks to the body. But Pacman is too tough. Manny is never seriously hurt but lightly stunned once or twice.
Clottey is too strong, doesn’t get baited in with Pacman’s glove tapping as he lays on the ropes wishing Clottey opened up so Pac can land some shots. But Clottey keeps his guard up, stays close and throws right uppercuts tight from inside when Pacman lays on the ropes. Clottey steps with his jab strong and hard everytime Pacman tries to use lateral movement to create distance. Clottey smartly closes that distance using the jab. He won’t stop jabbing like ODH and Cotto did. It was very effective when Cotto used it, snapping Manny’s head back everytime. When gets inside he will shorten his punchesm nothing wild. Straight punches mostly. That’s how Clottey fights. Quickest way to get to any target is in a straight line. He won’t be stupid like other fighters and try to kill Pac with winging shots because you can’t. Straight punches.
The fight goes the distance. Manny is cut up a little but not too bad. Clottey pulls off the upset. Majority decision.
People will compare the upset similar to Winky Wright/Shane Mosley 1. The fight will look just like that one, trust me. Winky was a good, defensive, non-mainstream, comes up barely short in big fights, not too interesting style of a fighter before he boxed Shane. Just like Clottey is now. Winky came up short vs Vargas and many people thought he was roobed a lot only because he wasn’t exciting with or talked too much. Clottey is the same. Against Margarito and Cotto came SOOO close. People also think he was robbed. Nobody expected Winky to beat Shane. It was an upset. It was a fight only real boxers and fans knew would give Shane trouble. The same applies here. Nobody expects Clottey to beat Manny. This fight is scarily similar even in the styles and build up to the fight its crazy. Nobody cared about Winky, nobody cares about Clottey. Shane was the man at the time, only had 2 losses to Vernon Forrest. Manny is the man now, only 3 losses, one to a legend. Do not be shocked. You heard it here first. Clottey upsets Pacquiao.
btw, you’re the 1 who said nobody’s talking about pac-clottey; look who’s talking now … or maybe you meant nobody’s talking about mayweather now
LOL man reading about this guy’s fantasies is f*ckn hilarious. I mean seriously. Can’t hurt something you can’t hit man, Pac’s a moving target. Pac by TKO RD 8.
I’m a Mayweather fan but still I think Pacquiao will beat Clottey quite easily. Maybe 3-4 rounds will be close but Pacquiao will take over after round 6 and either win on UD or maybe be the first person 2 stop Clottey. Yes Clottey is tough but he doesn’t keep the same pace for 12 rounds and also his footwork isn’t all that good. Pacquiao wins this fight.
Clottey cannot sustain the body attack that you are prescribing. Pacquiao is just too fast and strong and Clottey will be lucky if he finishes the fight on his feet.
I think that Manny is strong in every department now including in the midsection. He has proven that already against Cotto. The only way to beat Manny is to outbox him or overpower him and I just cant see anyone who will be able to do that at the moment not even Mosley or Mayweather.
so,..you all watch d fight in texas?..lol.
Let’s see come March 13!
Maybe Freddie is using a bigger stick on Manny’s midsection right now. hehehe!
i think the onlu way to beat pac is to counter punch him and force him to fight a fight coming at clotty. but its probably still hopeless
I dont think you should concentrate on attacking one part of Manny Pacquiao body, when your fighting him.
what i have seen in Pacquiao last 10 fights is he has trouble with someone who moves side to side, gives him angles and is able to keep him at a good distance and using your jab.
Where if he attacks, you can move in a angle and counter-punch him. Attack the body when there is openings, when he is on the ropes go to the body! but not make it so much of a focus in training camp.
Juan Manuel Marquez both fights.
Its so funny to me how Manny Pacquiao never went to the ropes and urged Juan Manuel Marquez to pretty much attack him, like he did to Cotto.
What i learned by watching Manny Pacquiao is you have to get him off his rhythm, and you do that by giving him movement, angles, having great feet work and using your jab effectively.
if you let manny pacquiao give you head movement move side to side and get in his rhythm, your going to pay for it. because thats when he is able to throw punches in bunches.
ha,ha, silly mongoose ,pac trains with guys larger that he I posted google search to a utube of ,manny fighting a 200 +black fighter,and he ate him up bad .and played on the rope to let him rip away on his midsection.dream on….ha
this guy is obsessed!
abnormal boxer for the abnormal fans… hail to mayweathers the most lunatic guys boxing ever had !
I love the taste of floyds ass crack. Umm umm I could lick it like a ice cream all day long!!! I really love to lick it staight after he’s trained all day! Floyds sweaty ass! Yum yum!
“Manny doesn’t like getting hit in the midsection. That’s something I’ve noticed.”
- Did you watch the Cotto fight, when Manny played rope-a-dope in round 4 and let Cotto attack his body while Manny simply covered his head with both gloves? And then later in that same round when Manny stunned Cotto with a left uppercut and sent him to the canvas?
- I see the stick training Manny does and have to wonder if he really is as vulnerable to the body as you might think. Morales had luck to the body, but didn’t hurt or knock Manny down. Manny finished strong and it was a close fight. Manny has also improved a lot since then.
…ryan
Cotto tried and pacquiao proved it to all of us doubters that he can take punches and one of the heaviest body puncher in the welterweight division.
How can you hit the body if you can’t even find his head? The way Clottey cover up, he’ll get punish first before even landing some on Manny’s gut.
Pacquiao will always win until he retire this year. Last fight for Pacquiao will be against Antonio Margarito–Why? First, Bob Arum already mentioned it in one of his interviews. Second, if Mosley wins he will have a mandatory rematch against Mayweather. Third, Mayweather will still insist in a random blood testing that it is not even mandated by NSAC. Lastly, Pacquiao has made up his mind that he will fight one more time after his fight with Clottey.
To go back to the topic — Pacquiao’s body has been trasnformed. Pacquiao’s body is smilar to a steel plate.Even if you smack it with 3 inches piece of wood it will not budge.
You know why Pacquiao is so great? let me tell a little secret he eats “Pinakbet” Please google to all of you who don’t know….lol
My strength is Fear of God. My weakness is not to train hard.
Very interesting; it would be a good test for Manny to be hit in the body repeatedly and see his reactions in taking it throughout the rounds. If he can take great shots to the head, how will he stand up to hard shots to his body? Can he still come back strong? That’s what we’ll all find out March 13, but don’t be surprised if he does take it and mounts a body barrage attack of his own on Clottey. I would think Roach may have already planned for this type of hard body punching by Clottey; we’ll see…
you dont now much about boxing do you? first, Pacquiao is small, meaning u must be very accurate and fast to hit the body, second..when you go to the body when getting slammed in the head, its no more body shots. clottey is WIDE open when he goes for the body, more than is necessary…Pac wins
Dave, a good read as usual. My thoughts are years ago when he did fight Morales, Pac may have struggled more to absorb body shots, I dont see this anymore. He encouraged Cotto in close and started deliberatly fighting off the ropes. As Cotto is known for being heavy-handed, Pac’s actions did’nt seem to be from that of a man who was too concerned about taking the odd shot to the mid section. Personally I think this fight will go to points, and Pac by UD, though I may put a small wager on Pac by TKO.
Agree with Tbone. Pac’s body is suspect. We don’t know if he’s capable of taking shots to the body but Cotto did try to hit him there. It’s kind of hard to hit someone in the body when he has this massive in an out attack aimed straight for your head.
It is not easy to work the body on someone who is punching you in the face. Pacquiao is fast, his movement in the ring is good and he throws punches in bunches… It is not that easy to say if you work the body you can do this or that, it’s just not going to happen when faced with smeone like this. Hatton is a great body puncher but just got peppered every time he came within range, same with De La Hoya and Cotto. Pacquiao is just a great boxer and only Mayweather will beat him.
tried*
I agree, but dont forget…Cotto tired when he had him on the ropes. But i do agree, body shots are the key…for any speed fighter.