What’s Next for Clottey, Pac-Man?
March 15th, 2010
By David Berry: Isn’t this what we expected? Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO), as planned, blitzed through Joshua Clottey (35-4-20 KO) on Saturday night; another opponent left in the dust. Despite Bob Arum’s best efforts to sell this fight on its own merits, the end result was never in question. The only real question going into Saturday night, and the only one that remained afterward, was whether or not a mega fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO) could finally be inked when it was over, provided Mayweather can get through Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO) on May 1.
However, even with such a low punching output, Clottey exposed perhaps the one remaining flaw in Pacquiao’s game – defense, particularly against the jab and uppercut. When thrown, Clottey landed those two punches with alarming ease. And while Pacquiao’s chin has proven increasingly durable as he’s gone up in weight, his bruised cheekbones told the story of a fighter who still gets hit too often. To his credit, though, no fighter has been able to counter his offensive output enough for it to matter.
So while the world awaits the outcome of Mayweather vs. Mosley, we’re left with 6 weeks to do what fight fans and scribes always do – speculate about what’s next. Despite his reputation as an avoided fighter, Clottey has had his fair shake at each of the top welterweights in the division, and has fallen short against each of them. So what’s next for “The Grand Master”? Despite proving that he’s a step below the elite fighters in the division, Clottey remains a dangerous opponent for a vast majority of the fighters in his division. While a trip up to junior middleweight can’t be ruled out, Clottey still has plenty of options at welterweight. He represents a great measuring stick for fighters looking to improve their standing in the division. Names like Kermit Cintron and Luis Collazo come to mind. Andre Berto, the current WBC Welterweight Champion, represents a tough opponent, and could provide another shot at a title strap, as well. At the moment, though, Collazo may be his best option, with Cintron and Berto locked in for fights against Paul Williams and Carlos Quintana, respectively.
As for Pacquiao, It’s obvious that he has a wide variety of options, as he’s technically still a champion in two weight classes (junior welterweight and welterweight). The names Valero, Bradley and Marquez have been thrown around, but none will come close to satisfying the world’s appetite for a clash with Mayweather. Pacquiao has solidified his legacy to the point that only a Mayweather fight can enhance it. If a fight can’t be made with Mayweather, then there is no greater time than now for Pacquiao to ride off into the sunset, his mind and body intact.
Of course, reality is rarely shaped the way that we expect it to be. On May 1, though, the picture will begin to come into focus.
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Tags: 40 Responses to “What’s Next for Clottey, Pac-Man?”
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The sad thing is, who knows what kind of great fighter Clottey could be if only he could pull the trigger when he is supposed to.
He is the ultimate “what could have been” fighter. Hes not lacking in physical attributes, punch resistance, technical skills or power. He just DOES NOT pull the trigger in his biggest fights and i dont know why. He has everything it takes to be a great fighter, and yet he ALWAYS finds a way to lose a fight he could have won. Its astonishing!
I hope he gets with a great trainer and they have a real long sit down and discuss what his problems are.
Clottey is still too good for fighters like Berto, and Cintron.
He could come back and destroy Berto for that belt bertos had for far too long, or he could wait for Cotto v Foreman, then go up to 154 and fight the winner.
But for Christ sake Joshua PULL THE F***KING trigger!!!
@chinquanto
Pacquiao vs mayweather fight at this stage is next to impossible. If mayweather wins against mosley expect a rematch too just to be able to avoid pacquiao. Another reason is the random blood test. maybe it will take a miracle
I think you’ll see a very close decision in the May/Mosely fight and that’ll force a rematch. Mayweather won’t be offensive enough to dominate and SSM has a great chin…be something like the May/DLH fight. Pacman will end up fighting at 140, either Bradley or Valero…unless Berto looks really good in his next one. I think its perfect timing for a Clottey/Margarito rematch since there first was a good battle…they both need a name to rebuild their rep. Pac shouldn’t bother with Marquez, but it would be cool to see him step up and fight P.Williams.
If Pacquiao gives in to Mayweather’s demand for unlimited random blood test, that means that pacquiao is acknowledging that Mayweather is bigger than the boxing commission and his rules should be followed. Even before fighting, Mayweather has already won. If I were to advise Pacquiao, I would suggest that he would never agree to Mayweather’s rules and instead insist on the boxing commission’s rules. If Mayweather is really that good, all he has to do is sign a contract to fight Pacquiao without any additional condiotion other than what the governing boxing body requires. If he insists on imposing what he wants, then there will be no fight and the world will just be wondering who between the two is really the better boxer. Maybe a computerized simulation will be able to determine who wins if the two would fight. Before he retires, Pacquiao may fight Berto for a title unification.
FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT A THRILLING AND SPECTACULAR FIGHT, LET US WISH THAT SHANE MOSLEY WILL DEFEAT FLOYD MAYWEATHER ON MAY 1ST. MOST BOXING SPECTATORS HAVE SEEN HOW MAYWEATHER DEFEATS HIS OPPONENTS. THE STYLE OF HIS BOXING STRATEGY IS HIT AND BACK PEDAL. THERE IS NO BIG DIFFERENCE WITH CLOTTEY. HE IS TOO DEFENSIVE LIKE CLOTTEY AND NEVER SEEN HIM FIGHT LIKE MANNY PACQUIAO’S MOTTO OF DO OR DIE EXCHANGES AT THE MIDST FLURRY OF SHOTS AND BRAWL. I AM QUITE SURE THAT IF PACQUIAO AND MAYWEATHER TANDEM WILL PUT IN ACTION, IT WOULD BE THE EXACT REPLICA OF PACQUIAO AND CLOTTEY. THERE WILL BE NO FUN AND ELECTRIFYING EXCITEMENT. BUT IF MOSLEY WINS WHICH I HOPE SO, BOXING FANS WILL SEE MORE ACTION AND LARGER CHEERERS AS TWO FIGHTERS TRY TO SUBDUE EACH OTHER TO DEFEND AND SNATCH THE BELT OF FAME AND GLORY.
JACK FLORES
BOXING ANALYST
@ wowzabean
im not blaming pac for takinng the fight, but we all knew before hand what was going to happen, and this didn’t stop top rank and roach saying this will be an all action fight even though we all know how it woould end up, considering clotteys style. as for you saying floyd has to co-operate as well, yes your right but he did more than co-operate accepting alot of pacs requests and having his request rejected. Pac said hell undergoe these OST if the commision asks for it, but that just seems to be a cop-out for me. If your willing to take the test under one circumstance then you should do it under any. we are talking about something BOTH figghters would have to do afterall. Does pac mean he’ll be weakened if floyd asks for the tests but not so if the nsac asks? it doesn’t make sence to me.
ares,
No. He had a decent excuse to fight Clottey in March. Time wasn’t on his side because he was running for Congress, Mosley and Berto were taken, and he already whooped on Cotto. If/when he wins the congressional seat, the Phillipines politicians go on a break in July (or June?). He has to set up a fight w/the winner of May/Mosley. Understandable if he can’t get Mosley right away if he wins, because there is a rematch clause though. Floyd has to cooperate too though.
a question for all the pacfans
would you be happy if arum pits pac against margarito or another toprank fighter for his next fight? i dont see pac jumping in the ring with floyd unlees arum is out of the picture. There is videos of roach saying they’ll undergoe any kind of drug testing and another one saying as long as theres a few days cuttoff b4 the fight he’ll be fine with it. Then arum debunked that idea and basically told roach to shut up. i THINK PACS CONtract with toprank expires mid year. hopefully if arums out of the picture well finally see the two square off.
i dont blame pac for this boring fight. it was clottey that stood there with his hands up not firing back. its also a little misleading as to how easily pac got hit when clottey actually threw punches. i think he let clottey(to some extent) hiit him so josh would open up, but obviously he was happy just to survive and collect his paycheck. As for floyd, he is a completely different defensive fighter. he moves and counters with blinding speed unlike clottey who covered up and thats about it. pac/may would be a classic battle of styles. floyd is always insanely accurate with deceptive power. with marquez he was obviously getting in rounds after a long layoff against a quality(albiet smaller) fighter, and could of finished him off at anytime.
Pacquiao is now waiting for maybe one last fight, a big one. And everybody wants a piece of Manny Pacquiao because we all know that anyone who face Pacquiao in the ring gets the biggest paycheck in their boxing career. Manny Pacquiao is the best thing that ever happen to boxing today, all the big guns in boxing knows this, we all knows this. Who else could generate that much money in boxing today – Manny Pacquiao.
hijynx,
Really? I mean I see what you’re saying, but I think it gave a little insight into what we’d see out of Pac/May. The first BIG difference is Pac wasn’t “missing punches” like many bloggers here say. It was landing on Clottey’s body and gloves. What’s the big deal about this you ask? Well anyone who has boxed, or done any sport, would know landing a punch and missing a punch have different effects on your stamina. The latter tiring you out a lot more.
Pac/May or even the upcoming May/Mos will have relatively the same “excitement” of Pac’s last fight. That’s what defensive fighters do. May will throw about the same amount of punches per round as Clottey. The main difference being a lot more will land, and Pac will not have as much to hit (meaning air as opposed to body/gloves) vs. Floyd. Not only that PBF counters, he doesn’t take a hit, then wait to hit back.
Honestly if any other fighter refused to take a random blood test that his opponent was open to take their would be questions; the way sports are today asking for something like that isn’t crazy.
I think Valero would be the best fight for Manny to summon up next. He’s kinda like a mini-Pacman and he has the same mindset (KO-TKO) everytime he goes into the ring. I think the only problem with the fight from Arum’s perspective is Valero is NOT a household name in the US and this would stunt the take$$. Would be one interesting fight though.
Realistically though. promoters just need to step up and get the Manny – Mayweather fight inked. They stand to lose alot when Pac gets tired of waiting and flies off into the political sunset.
whats next for clottey?!
what about…….
the fight of the millenium, the most exciting ever…..
FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. VS JOSHUA CLOTTEY
I lost the interest of wanting to see floyd and manny in the same ring. I know everyone keeps saying its going to be huge! Huge about what? After pacquiao vs clottey boring fight, I have a feeling everyone is thinking twice if mayweather and pacquiao bout will be an exciting fight or will it worth it to pay hard earned money just to view manny pacquiao trying to open another clam shell defense. I fell back in love in boxing again because of pacquiao. Mannys previous bout,except his recent one, were exciting, loaded with fireworks, could hardly kept anyone in their seats kinna fight. I know it wasn’t mannys fault why the clottey fight was dreadfull. Pacquiao tried his best to make his opponent come out his shell. He even tried to use the thunder clap, that was funny I must say, just to be little and annoy the other guy hope to start the fireworks but nothing happen. It was a dud. Anyway, I feel manny vs floyd bout may end up the same. Yeah, I said it because mayweather is the master of defense and pacquiao… Well what else can he do?
wowza- lol……..man, I am still venting, Clottey gets no love from me……. I am still scratching my head at his performance….but I guess I cant be that surprised because that is literally how he fights, and he did exactly what he said he would do…….throw 4 punches to Pac’s 30. In that I guess Clottey executed a “perfect gameplan”……..unfortunately, it was a “perfect gameplan” that guaranteed a loss.
Pachater’s head rotates on Pacquiao’s refusal on random blood test. they believe this is an evidence that Pacquiao is using PED.
also, they can’t believe Pacquiao is getting those victories.
lastly, they are frustrated because the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight failed to occur.
cant knock pac its not his fault clottey was content being a heavy bag for 12 rounds.
i could really care less about what clottey will do next, everyone who said he didnt belong in the ring with pac were proven right.
What’s next for Clottey? lol.
preston,
Harsh man, lol.
asani,
What are you talking about man? Did you see the fight? Clottey closed up like a f*ckn clam. His elbows covered his ribs. Manny isn’t a counter puncher by nature, if you knew this, you knew he wasn’t just going to stand there. He hammered away till he broke through Clottey’s defense to land some clean hits. Hell in the later rounds Manny stood in front of him, daring Josh to throw a punch just to end the boredom. Then whenever Clottey through back, Manny would kick it into higher gear and STILL take the round.
clottey apologized for not being competetive in the bout. he said he was suffering from diarrhea b/c of a stew he had taken. he run to the toilet a total of 10x after the weigh-in up to the time of the fight.
he said thank you to everybody who spent their hard earned $ to see the fight. he is planning to use his $3m earnings to fulfill his immigrant dream of opening a business in the bronx. he is so grateful for everybody for giving him a capital to start a business. right now, he is so happy and singing all day since yesterday.
yall pac haterz say he miss lots of punches but if you watch clottey was blocking his face and body the whole time!and look, he threw mor than 1200 punches, more than 3x clotty!! don’t u say his punches rnt accurate….
So if floyd fights Shane, Manny and beats them, (like he’s supposed to right?), then whats next for him? Cotto, clottey, hatton? will he fight berto? retirement?
Why does everybody suggest pac fight paul williams? get real. why hasn’t floyd fought him yet? paul has been asking for that fight before may’s so called “retirement”. Leave paul’s name out of the equation unless you are suggesting may fight him first!
its about the money boys and girls. Manny and FMjr will fight/because they and many others will earn a lot o MONEY,
clotty stinks a big man in the ring like that didint throw any punchess he could of pushed pac around like a kid got in his face and ruffed him up he didnt even get into any clinches he was fighting for the world title he knows he was losing after 8 rounds he should come out swinging to try knock him out but he didint you have to ask your self why one word fixed
Come on folks let’s be real. Pac didn’t look good in that fight and Clottey was a joke from the beginning. Manny’s landing percentage was boo boo and if he had problems hitting Clottey then it is really gonna be a long night for Pac if he mans up and fights Floyd. Everybody at the bar including Pac fans said that they don’t want Pac to fight Floyd after what they were looking at because he will get worked by Floyd. I know Pac is on some PEDS but Floyd should still fight him so he can embarrass his cheating ass anyway.
what’s next for Pac?…………its looking like another “megafight” with Antonio Margarito. For Clotttey….a one way ticket to Ghana on a greyhound bus and a ferry boat.
I’m interested into who Clottey fights next, this was his biggest pay day and coming off of back to back losses if he lands another big fight, I’m calling a spade a spade. If Cotto defeats Yuri Foreman don’t be surprised if Clottey moves up to 154 for a rematch with Cotto.
It don’t matter if u lose before a fight if you lost before a fight what u gonna do? You going to want to shut everybody up? Or put on your panties and do nothing? If I lost I’m try even harder the next time. I think alot of people would
Mayweathers like daddys little princess always wantin something before they fight. He needs to buck up grow a pair and quit worrying about his”0″ that’s only reason he wants a bloodtest the fight would of happend ifhe didn’t come with some stupid stipulation. He acuses manny for doing wrong but it’s him and his crack head family that are out beating women. Lol I hope mayweather does
grow a pair and steps up. I put my money that he gets droped in the fight.
Very good article. Clottey can only serve as a measuring stick now. I saw that he lacked champion heart when he gave up at Round 5 against Margarito. Given, he probably broke his hand in that round but plenty of boxers still fight with their hand broken. Clottey has no heart at all and it’s why he falls short against any good opponent. I knew this fight was a joke but it was even more of a joke than I thought. I think Mayweather will beat Mosley and then Pacquiao, both by decision.
Pacquiao should do us all a favour and retire, like they said he would. He’s doing boxing more harm than good.
Boxing does not need suspected PEDs users. It’s hard enough for boxers to have a decent career in the sport at the moment without the scourge of PEDs.
Anonymous you’re a joke. He’ll destroy all of them.
The Pacquiao-Clottey fight was similar to the Mayweather-Marquez fight. Both fights showed two elite fighters who beat their opponents with ease. The Pac-Clottey fight was interesting as Clottey seems to have the power to knock Pac down, and the whole fight for me was a wait to see if Clottey would pull off a combination that would knock Pac down.
Pac’s stamina(is his winning asset) and speed however made it a shut-out with a flurry of punches that does not allow for an opening. Mayweather’s fight with Marquez was a shut out due to a balletic counter-punching prowess.
One thing this article did not mention, is the times that Pacquiao got hit where when he puts his arms up in defense and waits for Clottey to start hitting him. I agree that the uppercut seems to be a weak point for Pacquiao.
The difference between the two fights. Mayweather went for a bloated counter-puncher who had no choice but to be more agressive, while Pacquiao went for someone bigger than him, who had the power to knock him down and got shut out since he can’t find the chance to unload. Pacquiao’s bruises though, show that Clottey has the strength to dish out a hurting, with no chance to actually pull it off.
I await to see if there will be another fight for Pacquiao. I am interested in the Mosley fight, although it may be like the Pac/Clottey fight in reverse. An elite counter-puncher against a maybe aging aggressor. Should be more competative than the Marquez/Mayweather fight.
@Haymaker Hayman
Some of those names are laughable, but the one that is no joke is Paul Williams.
I think it would be very difficult to promote a Clottey fight after this to be honest, I was what you would call a fairweather fan of Clottey before this fight but I certainly don’t feel that way now!! I think his lack of killer instinct (I used to think he just had a lack of stamina) is really damaging his reputation as a tough guy becouse although Cotto suffered a more severe beating I think he earned more respect from fans becouse unlike Clottey, Miguel Cotto won’t die wondering!!
Sounds like your the joke pal with some of the names on that list!
Clottey’s done. He never had the ability to be a P4P kind of fighter anyways. As for Pacquiao he’ll find some other fighter coming off a recent loss like Margarito and beat up on them.
pac is a joke. WIlliams, Mosley, Valero,Gamboa, John, Floyd – would all send his pilipino butt back home with a loss.