As a fighter’s wounds go, those suffered by Manny Pacquiao weren’t much, the most dramatic of them being the mouse under his right eye.
Joshua Clottey, by comparison, looked just as he had when he entered the ring.
Unfortunately for the challenger, it wasn’t a beauty contest. Nor was it a test of endurance, though Clottey is lucky to still have a functioning left kidney, the target of all those right hooks.
This wasn’t a movie, or a morality tale. This was a fight, held in front of 50,994 fans at Cowboys Stadium. A boxer as formidable as Clottey should’ve known: Not going down doesn’t make you a winner. But not punching assures the loss.
Joshua Clottey, who’s never been knocked out, was bigger and stronger than his more celebrated opponent. I found the fighter from Ghana to be an altogether likable sort: a striver living with his girlfriend in an apartment not far from Yankee Stadium. But when the moment of his greatest chance arrived, he was unwilling to do that which transforms immigrants into star-spangled heroes: take the risk.
Even his own trainer had to acknowledge as much. “Joshua had the power to knock him out — but he was reluctant to punch,” a visibly upset Lenny DeJesus said just after the fight. “I don’t think we won a round.”
At least one of the judges agreed. Duane Ford had Pacquiao winning all 12 rounds. Levi Martinez and Nelson Vasquez each gave Clottey a round. I gave him two, but I fear I scored the 10th out of regret. In the third, I had him connecting on some straight rights and a couple of uppercuts. In the 10th, I tried to be impressed by the shots that snapped Pacquiao’s head back.
Actually, I should’ve been more impressed with Pacquiao. It’s been a little more than a year since he sent Oscar De La Hoya into retirement, and the idea of him beating up on bigger guys has lost its novelty.
“He has very good movement and great speed,” said Clottey. “It was very difficult for me to handle that. I didn’t feel much of his power, but his movement really bothered me.”
Actually, it wasn’t a bad fight. It just should’ve been better, much better. I’ve never seen a fighter make himself impervious to punishment like Joshua Clottey. He locks his forearms upright, protecting his face and most of his torso. But it doesn’t mean much — certainly not enough — if you don’t throw.
“Clottey’s got good defense,” said Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach. “But good defense isn’t enough to win a fight. ... I thought he would be more offensive to try to take the title from us. ... I thought the body shots would break him down.”
“He never hurt me,” said Clottey, who admittedly has still never been knocked out.
One wonders, then, if you weren’t hurt, then why not let your hands go?
Instead, with a shot against the best in the world, Clottey threw 399 punches, according to CompuBox statistics. That’s about 33 per round — fewer than his meager average over his last nine fights, which happens to be 43. In case you’re wondering, the average welterweight throws 58 per round.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, threw 1,231. And though he’s never been much for the jab, he made it his business to throw 55 in the first round, more jabs than in any round of his career. As for power punches, he threw 682 power punches to Clottey’s 237.
“We pressured him,” said Roach. “Manny was getting hit a little too much with the rights so we made an adjustment. We started hitting him with the right hook and moving.”
In fairness to Clottey, he kept coming forward. And while it was an imposing march, it was not valorous enough to earn a victory. “He’s strong, a very good fighter,” said Pacquiao. “I felt his power, but he was looking to land the big shot.”
In short, Joshua Clottey wasn’t willing to take the requisite risk.
At the evening’s end, Clottey appeared at the interview podium in good spirits. He looked the same as he did Thursday when I took a van with him to Cowboys Stadium.
Some minutes later, Manny Pacquiao arrived. He wore dark sunglasses to cover the most visible of the contusions. He says he will decide on his future after he runs for congress in the Philippines.
The election is May 10. Still, there is nothing precluding a politician from making a living in the ring.
In other words, the conversation now returns to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“We will crush him,” said Roach.
“I want that fight,” said Pacquiao. “The people want that fight ... but I don’t think he’s ready.”
The pound-for-pound champion added that Mayweather’s “style is not a difficult style like Clottey.”
In fact, Manny Pacquiao might find the two have something in common. Mayweather, like Clottey, isn’t much for taking risks.
