By Esteban Garduno: In the latest boxing news, Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya chimes in with his own prediction on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight for this Saturday night, saying in an interview with Sky Sports, “I think Manny Pacquiao will have an easy time with Joshua Clottey. Styles make fights and his [Clottey] defense is one where he blocks punches, then he has to bring his hands down to look at you and then throw punches. Manny is too fast to stay there in the pocket and receive punches. I believe he will hit him then move side to side.”

I doubt it will be an easy fight as De La Hoya says. Clottey is tough, and not someone that can only cover up. I think he’s capable of landing punches in a hurry, especially when Pacquiao comes looking for him. Clottey won’t have to seek Pacquiao out, because Pacquiao will be coming at him like he does with all his opponents.

I do think De La Hoya is correct about Pacquiao jumping from side to side and throwing shots from different angles. Pacquiao has always done that, but it’s possible to time him because he seems to do this quite a lot. Pacquiao could find himself in a real dog fight, and if he’s made the mistake of listening to his trainer Freddie Roach, who has been predicting a knockout win for Pacquiao, Manny could be a little too confident for his own good.

It’s one thing looking at Clottey fight on video, spot his many flaws and think that he’s easily beatable, another thing completely to get in the ring with him and have to deal with his speed and power. Make no mistake about it, this is going to be a tough fight for Pacquiao and he could end up losing or winning by a sliver of a margin. That would run opposite of what both Roach, De La Hoya and many other boxing experts have been saying about Saturday’s bout.

Clottey is an underdog, to be sure, but he has lot to fight for in this fight, unlike Pacquiao, who is already set for life as a multi millionaire. Just looking at Clottey’s modest apartment in New York tells you how badly he needs to win on Saturday. In contrast, Pacquiao has more than one house and each of them is huge in size. He’s got it made. Now it’s Clottey’s chance to try and make some big money. As it is, Clottey will get a minimum of $1.5 million for the fight, but could end up making much more depending on how well the fight does on Pay-Per-View.

De La Hoya says “Clottey will look for him, but he’s [Pacquiao] not going to be there. He [Pacquiao] is going to do the same things for 12 rounds.” I think it could work out like this if Pacquiao decides to be very cautious with his attacks against Clottey. If he throws one shot at a time, I think Pacquiao will get away with not getting hit too much in the fight. But I don’t think that’s how Pacquiao will fight Clottey.

Manny never just throws one punch at a time, and seems to really enjoy slugging it out with his opponents. Once Clottey hits Pacquiao with one of his hard left hooks, I see Pacquiao scrapping his game plan and going after Clottey to try and take him out.

You have to remember that Pacquiao has gotten used to having his way recently against guys that couldn’t stand up to his barrages. Pacquiao is coming into this Saturday’s fight with that mindset, thinking that he’ll topple Clottey like he took out an old, weight drained Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. The difference here is that Clottey won’t fold up, and won’t run like Cotto did. He’ll stand his ground and go after Pacquiao.

De La Hoya goes on to point out that he thinks that Shane Mosley has more of a chance of beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. than Pacquiao. “Sugar Shane [Mosley] has the best shot of beating Floyd Mayweather.”
De La Hoya then says he thinks Mayweather would beat Pacquiao, commenting “I would have to say Floyd Mayweather, because of styles. I believe Pacquiao would come in, try to get his punches in and be very aggressive, But that plays into Mayweather’s hands. He’s [Mayweather] a defensive boxer. The best there ever has been. He waits for you to make mistakes and then capitalizes.”

I totally agree with De La Hoya. I think Mayweather would totally humiliate Pacquiao, and pick him off all night long when Pacquiao jumps from side to side. It would be like an expert shot picking off little ducks at a fair. Pacquiao wouldn’t stand a chance. Pacquiao is good at beating guys like Hatton, Cotto, and possibly Clottey then trying to go after super talented fighters like Mayweather or Mosley, who pick him apart all night long.