In less than a month, Manny Pacquiao will square off against Joshua Clottey in Jerry Jones' spectacular new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX.I predict the fight will be an action packed affair with the rugged Clottey giving it everything he's got.
It won't be like Pac-Man's fight with Ricky Hatton when "The Hitman" was so scared he almost collapsed entering the ring. (I hadn't seen anyone that scared since Frank Bruno entered the ring against Iron Mike Tyson back in the early '90s.)
Clottey will show up, which is why the first few round should be very entertaining.
I just don't think Clottey has the stuff to handle Manny's combinations, combinations that come from angles most boxers have never seen before in their entire careers.
That's the thing about Manny. He not only has incredible speed and power, but under Freddie Roach's tutelage, he has learned to let his hands go from any and all angles.
Oscar De La Hoya said it best in his own ring blog last August when he remarked that Pac-Man had the quickest hands he'd ever seen. According to Oscar "His punches don’t come from your basic boxing style; they come from all sorts of weird angles. That’s what makes him difficult.”
Clottey's tough, and he gave Cotto all he he could handle. But look what happened when Cotto faced Manny.
I see this fight going maybe eight or nine rounds before Clottey gets worn out and goes down for the count.
Then what?
Manny's at that stage where each of his fights are what you call legacy fights. No one will want him to get in the ring unless the money is right. And there aren't a lot of those fights out there for someone as good as Manny.
He will probably wait until after the Mayweather-Mosley fight and try to negotiate with the winner. But who know how that will go.
I don't think fight fans can assume Manny automatically fights the winner between Mayweather and Mosley, no matter who wins.
If Mayweather, wins there will be a lot of pressure on both fighters to make the mega-fight happen. But with all the bad blood between the two camps, that's certainly not a sure thing.
If Sugar Shane wins, there might not be enough money in that fight to make it worthwhile, especially since Mosley will not want to go back to the 65-35 split that he has agreed to for this bout.
Most likely Mosley will ask for a 50-50 split, and Arum's not likely to give that kind of split to a fighter who's never shown an ability to put fannies in the seat. Shane's more likely to get that in a rematch with Money May.
That leaves Pacquiao with two options. He can fight talented up and comers, guys like like stablemate Amir Khan, Edwin Valero, and Paul Williams. Unfortunately, none of these fighters would add considerably to Manny's legacy or his bank account.
Or he could fight inferior fighters for paychecks and until those top contenders fight each other, hoping one of them rises to the top of the heap.
But with convincing wins over several Hall of Famers already under his belt and political aspirations back in the Philippines, I don't really think that would interest him. There's just not enough up side for a fighter like Manny.
When you're as good as Manny Pacquiao, there's no reason to hang around and tarnish your legacy, which is why we might be seeing one of his last fights.
Source: bleacherreport.com
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