By Daniel Echevarria: For far too long now we all have been placed on the Pac-Wagon and Pacquiao – Roller Coaster. Day in and Day out Fight after Fight championship belt after championship belt. Around 2008 was the year Manny Pac-Man Pacquiao exploded into the homes of millions of Americans via PPV. After David Diaz we witnessed the rise and majesty of the icon Pacquiao due to the destruction of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto followed by Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito and on May 7 we can then add to the list Shane Mosley.

Now these fighters are all great without question but where they still great at the time of the fight and where they still in there prime during the fight? I think we all know the answer to that right, Now out of all of these fighters one has been over looked because of his performance maybe but his poor performance should have thrown up a red flag as to the Dynamic and g.o.a.t status of Manny Pacquiao and that fighter is Joshua Clottey.

In no way was that fight exciting but on the other hand it was historical due to the fact it was the first fight in the new Dallas 50,000+ stadium with its Ginormica TV and billion dollar price tag blah blah blah. Pacquiao was so destructive against the previous fighters named above in such dramatic fashions but why not Joshua Clottey? In my humble opinion Pacquiao could not get past the turtle shell defense of Clottey and the evidence of this was in the 4th round where the frustration had overflowed to the point where Pacquiao gave Clottey a two handed clap to the face where the ref stepped in and said “no no no you can’t do that”.

What is amazing is Pac threw 1231 punches (a career high) but only landed 246 the rest where blocked by Clottey. After the fight was all said and done it was totally obvious that Clottey did not come to fight and it was more of a sparring session than a actual fight but what was more interesting was the greatest of all time Pacquiao looked like he got hit himself with 1231 punches. So looking back now what was the difference in De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey? Well, their defense in no way was the same as Clottey, which was obviously a successful one. Secondly, Clottey was able to pick Pacquiao off when he wanted to like target practice, which proves Pacquiao doesn’t have a good defense, and begs the question if Joshua Clottey was more active, how much more damage would Pacquiao have suffered?

So now why is Pac constantly placed with slower aging fighters who lack defense and the speed that can be matched with the great Manny Pacquiao? Fans upset to the point where they are contemplating a boycott of his next bout? At the end of the day are we the fans being dooped by the Boxing Elite in an effort to keep a major fighters name alive to carry the legacy and presence of this great “Sweet Science” of Boxing because of the rise of MMA? I guess time will tell.