By Dave Lahr: Former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey isn’t impressed with World Boxing Organization Manny Pacquiao and sees him like any other fighter that he’s fought during his career. In an article at the Boxing.fanhouse, Clottey said “I can’t tell you my strategy. I can’t and will not tell you what I’m going to do to Manny Pacquiao. But I’m coming to fight. This, I do know. Manny Pacquiao is not that different from anyone else that I’ve fought.” This is what I’ve been saying a long time. Pacquiao isn’t as good as people think he is.

Look at who he’s beaten in the past couple of years to become popular: Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Those were all good fighters at one time, but clearly by the time that Pacquiao fought them they were suffering problems with their game. De La Hoya was just old and past it by the time Pacquiao fought him, and Hatton didn’t look like the same fighter after his knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. two years earlier.

And Cotto hadn’t looked good since being knocked out by Antonio Margarito in 2008. Besides that, all those guys were face forward type fighters and made the mistake of either coming right at Pacquiao or standing dead in their tracks letting Pacquiao use his in and out attacks. There wasn’t mobile fighter among those three like Mayweather, Shane Mosley or Timothy Bradley. I think Pacquiao loses to all three of those guys because they at least know how to move their feet, and would take advantage of all the flaws in Pacquiao’s game.

Clottey says “Manny Pacquiao is a human being, like everyone else. He’s just a really good fighter who is out there now who is no 1 now. I don’t know how he’s coming to me, but I can tell you that I’m a different fighter altogether than anyone else that he’s faced. I’m a really difficult fighter, you see.”

I agree with Clottey. He is a different fighter. He at least has something left in the tank, and wasn’t recently pounded on like Cotto and Hatton were. I think Clottey can win this fight if he takes the fight to Pacquiao and blocks his right hook.

Pacquiao is right hook happy since his trainer Freddie Roach taught him that punch. If you block that punch and take it away from him, Pacquiao is basically helpless. He’s a got a left hand, but his right hook is what has led to his recent success. Just block and drive a right hand down the middle and it’s a victory for Clottey.

“I’m going to rely on my pressure,” Clottey says. That sounds like a good strategy. Pressure Manny, make him back up and taste leather. Pacquiao can dish it out, but he hasn’t proven that he can take it. As long as Clottey blocks his punches, and takes whatever shots he throws, he can punish Pacquiao and take the fight out of him. Once Pacquiao is cut, he becomes a very vulnerable fighter. Watch how weak Pacquiao looked after he was cut in his first fight with Erik Morales. Pacquiao had the fight taken out of him after he was cut.