By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey (35-4, 20 KO’s) will finally be making an appearance after a year away from boxing when he takes on junior middleweight Calvin Green (21-5-1, 13 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout on the undercard of the WBA junior middleweight fight between champion Miguel Cotto and challenger Ricardo Mayorga at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Clottey, 33, hasn’t fought since losing a lopsided 12 round decision to Manny Pacquiao last year in March. It was by far the biggest payday of Clottey’s career, and one in which should set him up for life in terms of his finances.

Clottey didn’t help himself any by staying out of the ring so long, as by the time he gets around to fighting someone of substance again, if he ever does, it will likely be at least a year and a half since he took on a quality fighter. Green, 33, won’t give Clottey much of a test, because he’s a limited fighter and has lost two out of his last three fights.

However, Clottey will likely get another title shot in the future even if he faces guys like Green over and over again. Clottey’s promoter is Bob Arum with Top Rank, and this means that Clottey will likely find himself back in there with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao at some point. Clottey has faced all three and been beaten by all three.

Clottey probably doesn’t have the skills to be a champion anymore at this stage in his career. As he showed in the Pacquiao fight, Clottey is the type of fighter that is content to just cover up most of the rounds in his fights and throw a small handful of punches. He could be a very good fighter if he were able to average 50-60 punches thrown per round, but Clottey doesn’t seem to have the stamina necessary for him to do that.

Whatever the case, Clottey will get another shot sooner or later, and, of course, lose the fight. Clottey has become a gate keeper and opponent for champions to fight and look good against without having to worry getting beaten.

It’s hard to make a case for Clottey deserving the shot against Pacquiao last year since Clottey was coming off a loss to Cotto. But it didn’t matter, because he fights for Arum, and being part of his stable will enable Clottey to get title chances over and over again even if he’s getting beaten consistently.