ESPN Poll: 76% of respondents won’t be watching Pacquiao-Clottey – News

By Sean McDaniel: If the ESPN poll is any guide in which the respondents were asked if they would watch the Pacquiao-Clottey bout shown at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, there could be a general disinterest in the upcoming March 13th bout between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at the Dallas Cowboy stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Of 37,000 respondents that have taken part in the poll, 76% of them have voted that they won’t be watching the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. Of course, this is a boxing site that hardcore fans go to more than casual ones.

However, it’s not a good sign when you have that many people showing little interest in wanting to see the replacement fight for the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. Boxing fans were hoping to see the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on March 13th, but the fight fell apart after Pacquiao and Mayweather couldn’t agree on the blood testing for the fight.

Top Rank, who will be promoting the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, still hasn’t started their promotion of the fight yet. There isn’t much time to promote the fight, but with a strong surge, it’s possible they could drum up interest in the fight with the casual fans if they can make Clottey look good somehow.

They could have to focus on showing bits and parts of his career, and stay away from his disappointing losses to Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. The problem here is that Clottey isn’t well known among boxing fans, aside from the hardcore fans. He’s not a real flashy fighter either, so it’s going to take some selling to get people to want to fork over big money to watch this on pay-per-view.

As of now, there’s no word which cable network will be showing the fight. HBO would be a big help in selling the Pacquiao-Clottey fight if they can put together one of their 24/7 series for the fight. It’s a little different in this case from their usual 24/7 series, which typically has two big stars facing each other. In this case, it would be one big star – Pacquiao – against an opponent that boxing fans would have scant knowledge of.

That could be good or bad. If HBO or Top Rank can make Clottey look like a monster, instead of a defensive fighter who recently was beaten by Miguel Cotto, it could drumming up interest among fans. It would be a huge disappointment if the Pacquiao-Clottey fight fails to make 900,000 pay-per view buys.

Personally, I’m a big fan of Pacquiao, but even I have a hard time stomaching this fight. Clottey wasn’t the kind of opponent that I was expecting as a replacement for Mayweather, and depending on how much the fight goes for on pay-per-view, I might not watch it. If it’s $49.95 or more, I’ll save my money on other things. I’d like to see it, but just because I want to see Pacquiao fight.

I don’t see the fight as a competitive match, which is why I’m not all that excited about it. I’m sure that Top Rank and/or HBO will do a good job of convincing the casual fans that this will be a competitive fight. However, since I know boxing well, and see this as a mismatch, the PPV price will have to be reasonable for me to want to throw down my money on this.

Source: boxingnews24.com

FREDDIE ROACH BREAKS DOWN CLOTTEY FIGHT; SAYS THE GOAL IS A KNOCKOUT

"Manny's going to have to get a little physical in there with him of course and use his strength and speed and use it technically. The thing is when his earmuffs are on, with that passive defense like that, there's not a lot of power punches coming back on the counter end of it. There is some activity, but the thing is if he does that too much, I think we're going to get him out in 12 easily, but he's definitely a tough guy to knockout though. That's our goal, to knock him out and be one of the first ones to do that," stated world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach as he broke down Manny Pacquiao's new opponent, Joshua Clottey, and their upcoming clash on March 13th. A guest of the OnTheGrind Boxing radio show, Roach shared his final thoughts on the failed negotiations for the megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. before looking forward to the title defense against Clottey. Check out what he had to say about the change in sparring partners, the possibility of facing Mayweather or the winner of Mosley vs. Berto in the future and much more.

On his selection of Clottey as Pacquiao's next opponent...

"I talked to Bob and Bob started asking about Clottey. I said, 'Give me a day to think about it. Let me think about his style.' It's an action fight. It's a hard fight of course because he's a true welterweight and a big, strong kid, so Pacquiao is going to have to really fight smart with his speed. And it's an action fight. I thought it was better than the Yuri Foreman fight. We could have went after Foreman for the 8th world title, but Foreman's kind of a lackluster guy who can spoil and make you look bad, so I thought this was a better action fight for the fans so this is the one we chose."

"They offered us Paulie Malignaggi, but who wants to see that, you know? I mean, geez, Ricky Hatton crushed him and Manny crushed Ricky Hatton, so people don't want to see that fight. Paulie's a good action fighter, but he's not in that class. Now we're fighting a big, strong guy who a lot of people thought beat Cotto in the last fight and he deserves a shot, so it's going to be a very good fight."

On the Clottey fight itself...

"To be honest with you, it looks like a great venue and it's going to be a huge crowd. Unfortunately, it won't be the pound-for-pound kings going against each other. You know, me and Manny were both looking forward to getting ready for that fight and coming up with a gameplan to beat Mayweather; hopefully that will happen down the line some day, but right now, we'll have Clottey in front of us, so it seems, and again, he's a tough guy and a difficult opponent, strong and a true welterweight. Manny's still a small welterweight, you know, he walks around at 153; we have to put weight on when we get in training camp with protein shakes and five meals a day, but it will be very competitive and it will be all-action. You know, a fight that the fans will love."

"We have to box this guy, in-and-out, side-to-side motion, and really, really be very tactical because he's a very strong and big puncher and has a good chin of course. Again, it's not an easy fight, but it's a fight that we want to fight because it's a fight that the fans will enjoy and that's what we want. We want to put on a good shows and keep doing that and keep Manny Pacquiao's number one ranking alive."

"It will be at 147. There's no catchweight."

"Manny's comfortable at the weight [147 pounds]. Making 135 was a bit of a struggle, making 140, we can make 140 with ease, but he likes the extra strength, he likes eating the day of the weigh-in. When Manny's eating the day of the weigh-in and gets to eat twice before the weigh-in, he's happy and that's when he peforms at his best, when he's smiling and in a good mood. He's not in an angry mood because he's starving himself. Making weight is a little bit overrated I think and Manny Pacquiao is proof. He's fighting at a weight he's comfortable at. He'll come into this fight like 144-145 and he'll go into the ring at 148 or 149 at most and that's his best fighting weight."

On the gameplan for Clottey...

"He has a passive defense, by putting his earmuffs on and so forth. He opens the body up when he does that of course. There's certain ways we can break that defense and break him down of course. Manny's going to have to get a little physical in there with him of course and use his strength and speed and use it technically. The thing is when his earmuffs are on, with that passive defense like that, there's not a lot of power punches coming back on the counter end of it. There is some activity, but the thing is if he does that too much, I think we're going to get him out in 12 easily, but he's definitely a tough guy to knockout though. That's our goal, to knock him out and be one of the first ones to do that. I think if we break him down to the body, we can definitely expose the head if we go to the body early in the fight."

On sparring partners for the Clottey fight...

"Big, strong guys, you know? 154 and 160-pounders. I got a couple guys picked out already. I got Roberto Garcia on hold in the gym right now. Roberto campaigns at 54, but he's at 160 right now; a very strong guy. I also have Amir Khan coming in for speed work, which works for Mayweather, but, you know, speed work is always great for timing and so forth, so he's in with Amir also. There's a 160-pounder who came in, 160-pound world champion from the Ukraine came in yesterday and I'm going to look at him tomorrow and they want me to train him also. And of course Felix Sturm and I just struck a deal. Felix is a 160-pounder who's going to come in. He's not that Clottey type of fighter so much, but he's a very clever boxer and I think when you're sharp with guys like that, you're sharp with anybody so I got some really good guys."

Source: fighthype.com

Manny Pacquiao Keeping Boxing Alive While UFC Thrives

I know for many of us boxing fans it is hard to admit that boxing is not what it once was. Boxing’s heavyweight division died a few years ago and now all of the champions are European and the majority of heavyweights are fat slobs who couldn’t even pass a high school physical fitness test.

Boxing started to lose steam in the early to mid 2000’s and the UFC or Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) began to take over. The UFC came in at the right time when Mike Tyson left boxing and Lennox Lewis was gone. For many UFC filled the void for those casual boxing fans who only wanted to see the brutal scary Mike Tyson fight in the ring.

UFC has many fighters who will please those type of fans who just want a bloody fight between big scary looking guys. But UFC also gives those fans the fights they want to see.

Now a boxer has captured the public’s imagination once again not because of a scary thug like demeanor but because of his class inside and outside the boxing ring, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is his name.

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao has carried the sport of boxing out of the doll drums and has given it some added respectability and class until the Mayweather family blatantly tried to ruin his good name with steroids accusations out of jealousy.

On an international scale Manny Pacquiao is more famous than any UFC fighter and possibly any current boxing champion today.

Manny Pacquiao has won fans from different races and ethnicity because of his aggressive crowd pleasing fight style and humble friendly nature outside of the ring.

UFC president Dana White has stated many times that Manny Pacquiao is his favorite fighter to watch right now, and a slew of other UFC and MMA fighters are huge fans of the Pacman because they respect him as a fighter because he fights anyone they put in front of him, it shows if Boxing had a dozen more Manny Pacquiao’s it would be huge once again.

Pacquiao also has many celebrity fans from sports stars to movie stars, like Kobe Bryant, Mark Wahlberg, Ron Artest, Laker owner Jerry Buss, Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone, the list goes on.

If boxing had more guys who fought fan friendly fights and didn’t duck fights like Floyd Mayweather Jr. has done recently to preserve his undefeated record, then boxing would be big once again.

Source: nowboxing.com

Joshua Clottey is a Real Fighter unlike Mayweather Jr.

With all of the Olympic blood testing demands implemented by the Floyd Mayweather Jr. side it only shows that Mayweather Jr. didn’t really want this fight in the first place and feared Manny Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquiao didn’t have to take no stinking extra blood tests, for what? When Pacquiao never failed a steroid drug test ever!

Floyd Mayweather Jr. on the other hand has used a painkiller Xylocaine that is banned in 49 states in his previous fights to help him fight through the pain if he breaks his brittle hands in a fight.

The only state that doesn’t ban Xylocaine is Nevada, makes you realize why Floyd Mayweather Jr. didnt want to fight in Texas in front of 100,000 cheering fans. Maybe Floyd only wanted to be the one with an unfair advantage in this fight, painkillers help combative athletes big time especially boxers who rely on their hands.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not the commission and has no right to tamper with another athletes body, leave that to the state commission and doctors.

At least we have an even better fighter on our hands a guy who is very dangerous and tough in Joshua Clottey. Clottey might not be famous or well known outside the boxing world as Mayweather Jr. but he is just as dangerous.

I have never seen Joshua Clottey dominated in any fight even when he loses, he actually makes his opponent’s look horrible even if they win. Miguel Cotto beat Clottey, he looked like he was run over by a Mack truck, many people felt Clottey actually won that fight.

Clottey has a huge chance of beating Manny Pacquiao, I would make Clottey the betting favorite to win in this fight that’s how much of a threat he is. Clottey has an iron chin, iron heart and never takes a step backwards.

Joshua Clottey was giving Antonio Margarito(the man who plastered his gloves) a tough fight before Clottey hurt both of his hands in the fight which limited his punch output. Even if Margarito’s gloves could have been loaded in the fight, Clottey took every punch Margarito could dish out, that shows you how good this man’s chin is and how tough he is.

Who cares about Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he doesn’t care about us, Mayweather doesn’t care about the fans and is scared to lose his undefeated record.

The man was even scared to finish Juan Manuel Marquez he was cautious of the blown up featherweight’s punching power that when Marquez did land a punch he would smile and back away real fast into a defensive mode.

Clottey doesn’t run, this man is an African warrior and people need to stop with this talk of boycotting Manny Pacquiao’s fights. Why would you boycott his fight when he is giving the fans exciting fights when he has consistently fought top guys and legends.

Mayweather on the other hand has openly admitted that he doesn’t care what fans say by his latest actions of putting up an absurd drug testing schedule that he wanted to enforce on Manny Pacquiao before their canceled March 13, fight.

Mayweather can go on and fight Matthew Hatton or Paulie Malignaggi for all I care. I know I won’t give him anymore of my money so he can pot shot all day and smile all the way to the bank as people leave the arena with a bad taste in their mouth’s.

I hope HBO PPV covers the March 13, 2010 Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight at Dallas Cowboy Stadium instead of Mayweather’s fight on the same date. What is the worse Floyd Mayweather Jr. gonna do to HBO? Claim they are racist? Oh I forgot Floyd Mayweather Jr. already used that one before “Mayweather Jr. plays Race Card says HBO is Racist”.

Also, his despicable cry on Joe Buck Live for the American fans to support him like we support our American troops was desperate and not genuine at all. The American troops die for their country, Floyd ain’t even willing to take on a tough fight. I am an American and like I said before I will support Manny Pacquiao.

Source: nowboxing.com

CLOTTEY MANAGER SPEAKS ON PACQUIAO FIGHT

Boxingtalk: We are speaking with Vincent Scolpino, who manages Joshua Clottey, the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao. How do you feel about landing the Pacquiao fight?

Vincent Scolpino: "It's a great opportunity for Josh against the best fighter in the world and he's going to do what he has to do."

BT: Have you had a chance to check out the Cowboys Stadium (in Dallas, Texas) where the fight will be taking place?

VS: "It's beautiful. I had a chance to visit it three months ago and having a fight like this at an outdoor stadium is a good look for boxing."

BT: The fight is scheduled for March 13th and Joshua is the naturally bigger guy. Do you think he will have enough time to train properly? And do you have a specific camp set up or will it be in New York?

VS: "Josh is always in shape. He lives a clean life. He plays a lot of soccer so that shouldn't be a problem. We're going to meet up and figure out a place to train because the weather is bad in New York."

BT: Are you surprised that Pacquiao's people picked such a tough guy like Clottey?

VS: "I don't think Manny would run from anybody. We knew we were in the mix once things fell through with Floyd Mayweather, so I'm not that surprised because I believe Manny is a true champion."

BT: Do you think Josh is getting the chance to overcome some the misfortunes he's had with three losses?

VS: "Yes. This is a great opportunity that Top Rank has given us. Now it's up to Josh to do what he has to do in the ring."

BT: What do you think of Pacquiao as a fighter?

VS: "He's one of the best fighters ever. He throws his hands and that's all you could ask for from a guy. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him."

BT: With his performances being so spectacular as he has moved up in weight, will you require additional testing or will the Texas Commission standards satisfy you?

VS: "Whatever rules apply in the state are what we will abide by. Hopefully everybody will be professional in the situation and we won't have anything to worry about."


Source: boxingtalk.com