By Kirk Jackson: The fight between Pacquiao and Clottey on the 13th of march is a waste of time. The fight shouldn’t even be happening. To start off, no one really cares about this fight. The only real fight everyone wants to see is Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, which arguably would be one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing. Pacquiao goes for making at least 40 million dollars if fighting Floyd Mayweather to now making maybe around 12 million. Nice money to make even still, but you’d probably be better off maximizing your financial opportunities in such a deadly sport.

We already know the likely outcome of this fight. Anything can happen when it comes to boxing, but everything is set up for Pacquiao to win. This can be a real easy fight for Pacquiao. Although Clottey is a solid defensive fighter who does a good job of shielding himself from harm with his Winky Wright like defense, he is flat footed and like recent Pacquiao opponents, or actually like most of the opponents Pacquiao has faced. Clottey also likes to press forward which suits perfectly with Pacquiao’s plans. The Ghanaian warrior simply does not have the style to beat Pacquiao, and he also lacks the speed and power to seriously leave an imprint on Pacquiao. I can visualize Manny bouncing around the ring moving in and out, while Clottey slowly drags his feet forward and will end up getting tagged by the much quicker Pacquiao all night long. Clottey is far from weak, but he does not possess devastating knock out power so there is no threat there. Although Clottey is the bigger fighter coming into this match up, he may not even get the chance to impose his size on Manny. And I have a suspicion even if Clottey makes it a close fight and it goes the full 12 rounds, the judges will award Pacquiao with the automatic decision because of the politics of the sport.

Another strike against Joshua is his level of opposition. The only marquee names on his resume include Cotto, Judah, Baldomir, and Margarito. Clottey has not really stood out against the few good opponents he has faced. He basically stopped fighting against Margarito after he broke his hands mid way through the fight, he lost composure and could not control his emotions and got disqualified against Baldomir. He had a decent showing against a faded Zab Judah, who by the way was coming off a knock out loss to Miguel Cotto, a sound defeat by the hands of Floyd Mayweather, and some inner turmoil and inactivity. Then we have the late great Diego Corrales. The problem with the Corrales victory is the proud warrior was only a shell of his former self and was moving up from his natural light weight class up to welterweight.

This isn’t to knock Joshua Clottey because he is a tough fighter and possess qualities that make him a solid contender. But you can surely question his status as an elite fighter, and seeing as he is coming off a loss, he probably shouldn’t be stepping in the ring with the likes of Manny Pacquiao. If you’re Manny, why fight a guy who recently lost to the guy you just beat?

Why even put this on ppv? Why waste the time of boxing fans putting this together? Especially in wake of the elections going on in the Philippines, and with the recent leg injury to Pacquiao suffered in camp, wouldn’t it be best to put a halt to everything and wait for things to play out? Ok you couldn’t secure a fight with Mayweather, so maybe you can find another fight right? Like maybe against the likes of Shane Mosley, or Paul Williams, or even Yuri Foreman. The Foreman fight would work out because he is a Top Rank fighter so Arum can make more money off that and keep the cash in-house just like he would with Clottey. Also in fighting Foreman, Pacquiao would also being chasing history with the 8th title. Or you could just let Pacquiao rest and handle the elections and try to make a fight with Mayweather later in the year.

Apparently, Mr. Arum had other plans. And lets say the impossible happens and Pacquiao loses to Joshua Clottey March 13th what happens then? Clottey vs. the winner of Mayweather/Mosley? Do you know how much money Arum would lose out on? The dream match everyone had hoped for between Mayweather and Pacquiao probably wouldn’t even happen and boxing would suffer another huge blow.