You guys are really undersestimating Clottey.

[The_Sneaky]

I think Clottey is a come forward fighter. He just moves in straight lines and follows his opponents around the ring - something Pac loves his fighters to do.

And sure catching Judah's attack is one thing, but Pacquiao's is on a different level - and if you think he's just gonna pick off Pac's shots and land better ones of his own you've got another thing coming. He's no JMM.

As I have said before, his best chance is to try and absorb as much of Pac's power shots as he can early by being very defensive, and then open up and unload more in the second half. I just don't think Pac will tire enough for that strategy to work, and he will more than likely lose his head after being caught with something.

Don't be blinded, Judah is not that much behind Pac in terms of hand or foot speed. Pac is not on an unseen before level. He has extreme hand and foot speed, good power and amazing footwork. His ability to score KDs come mostly from his ability to surprise with his punches rather than his pure power.

With all these attributes he still got beaten by Morrales, lost more rounds against Marquez than he won(he only won the fights because of the KDs). He can be figured out, timed and countered. And it doesn't require an equally fast-handed, fast-footed boxer or slick boxer to do that.

Clottey has all the attributes that caused Pac problems in his fights with Morrales and Marquez and more and Pac still has the same weaknesses he had in those fights.

[The_Demon]

nobody is under-estimating clottey,people just expect the better fighter in pacquioa to win this one

id give clottey more of a chance if he didnt have the habit of taking a full 2 minutes of a round off for the majority of the rounds

the only entertaining thing clottey will do is make up some bulls*it excuse for getting his ass beat.actually he has already started his excuses before the fight,stating he is weight-drained at 147 a couple of weeks ago

[Mugwump]

He will be there all the way, and will put up a competitive fight and do more damage than Pacquiaos last opponent. He will also use his technical skills that Pacquiaos last two opponents did not have, and will alsoput up a more entertaining and more competitive fight.

I agree. I'm surprised Roach has taken on this bout. Clottey is a tough, tough fighter who could easily have been high up the P4P list had he not fallen foul of some questionable judging in the Cotto fight. He's a big guy and will - by some margin - be the most physical fighter Pac has entered the ring with. He can take a hell of a lot of punishment and certainly won't be hitting the canvas Hatton-style without inflicting a lick of damage on his opponent.

But worst of all - he's HUNGRY. Hungry to wipe the stain of the Cotto fight off of him. Hungry to prove he's every bit as good as any of that cosy little group of fighters who've guarded boxing's wealth for what seems like an eternity and hungry to prove every last person who's written him off as a second-tier fighter wrong.

He's the very definition of high-risk and low-reward. Certainly NOT the kind of guy you want to be taking on in the sunset of your career as a tune up for what will be a career defining mega-fight against Mayweather (we all know this will happen sooner or later).

You'd think a guy who names his gym the "Wildcard" would be able to spot one.

[- JCHING -]

Don't be blinded, Judah is not that much behind Pac in terms of hand or foot speed. Pac is not on an unseen before level. He has extreme hand and foot speed, good power and amazing footwork. His ability to score KDs come mostly from his ability to surprise with his punches rather than his pure power.

With all these attributes he still got beaten by Morrales, lost more rounds against Marquez than he won(he only won the fights because of the KDs). He can be figured out, timed and countered. And it doesn't require an equally fast-handed, fast-footed boxer or slick boxer to do that.

Clottey has all the attributes that caused Pac problems in his fights with Morrales and Marquez and more and Pac still has the same weaknesses he had in those fights.

Judah isn't far behind in hand speed I agree, but power wise, stamina wise and even skill wise he's not on the same level.

I agree that Pac can be figured out, but Clottey is not the guy to do it. He doesn't have the skill set or boxing mind of a JMM, and so in no way will he cause as many problems for Pac as he did.

I would be pleasantly suprised if Clottey beats Pac or even gives him a tough fight, but lets call a spade a spade, Pacquiao will take this fight without too much hassle due to the match up of styles.

[The_Sneaky]

The Cotto fight was close that could've gone either way. It was certainly up for grabs when Clottey took his foot off the pedal--when it mattered most (sound familiar?). As for the body slam, well that looked as blatant as the headbutt. Meaning, it's open for interpretation. And spare me with the low blows and "rabbit punch." Just wow.



Where do you get this "official" criteria percentage-wise from? And again, you are blaming judges because Clottey decided not to throw punches? WTF?



Exactly - which is why it was absolutely mind boggling. But not surprising if you've watched Clottey over the years. And it had NOTHING to do with stances. Dude, he clearly headbutted him TWICE, was warned, had a point deducted and then did it AGAIN. Whatever - well see what we want to.

The rabbit punch? Cotto had his back against the ropes in a clinch with Clottey who was facing towards the ropes, the referee was coming towards them. Cotto spins behind Clottey(who is still facing the ropes) and is now behind Clottey with Clottey's back exposed to him and then punches Clottey in the back of the head. What is that?

The low blows? The referee\Cotto saw it was a low blows, they just wanted the fight to continue because we can always say they are accidental.

The body slam? Clottey, with his back against the corner and after landing three shots on Cotto, slipped on the canvas when he tried to move forward and tried to lean onto bended down Cotto's back to prevent himself from falling down. Cotto lifts himself(and Clottey) but importantly he pushes Clottey down with one of his gloves on Clottey's back.

The scoring criteria is from an WBC executive. That's the breakdown he gave at Clottey's news conference in Accra. If it's wrong blame him or the website i read that. You can always do your own checks.

What punches did Cotto throw in those rounds? He was out landed 19-7 in the 10th, the 11th was even and he outlanded Clottey by 2 or 3 punches in the 12th. And that was when he was in full retreat mode.

[- JCHING -]

So who should Pac fight?dont tell me Mali***gi?Pac would destroy his gay ass. Clottey is more of a counter puncher than a stalker. He also has a very good jab much better jab than Cotto. If you think this fight will be easy then ur a ***** trying to discredit Pac's opponent. I'll bet even Floyd would have a hard time with Clottey.

I'm in no way a *****. I'm just calling it as I see it.

Pac should have accepted the 14 day window and made the fight with PBF - but that's another issue.

Clottey is a good fighter and deserves a fight with Pac. I just can't see any way Clottey can win.

He can't use his physicality as Pac won't let him. He can't beat Pac to the punch. He can't counter punch as good as JMM. He can't outbox Pac. He doesn't have enough movement. He's not active enough. He doesn't have enough ring intelligence. He doesn't have much power.

Pacquiao has all the advantages minus the size, and he has already proven he can deal with size.

Style wise this fight plays into Pacquiao's hands, and the only people who can't see that are Pac fans and Clottey fans.

[IMDAZED]

The rabbit punch? Cotto had his back against the ropes in a clinch with Clottey who was facing towards the ropes, the referee was coming towards them. Cotto spins behind Clottey(who is still facing the ropes) and is now behind Clottey with Clottey's back exposed to him and then punches Clottey in the back of the head. What is that?

The low blows? The referee\Cotto saw it was a low blows, they just wanted the fight to continue because we can always say they are accidental.

The body slam? Clottey, with his back against the corner and after landing three shots on Cotto, slipped on the canvas when he tried to move forward and tried to lean onto bended down Cotto's back to prevent himself from falling down. Cotto lifts himself(and Clottey) but importantly he pushes Clottey down with one of his gloves on Clottey's back.

The scoring criteria is from an WBC executive. That's the breakdown he gave at Clottey's news conference in Accra. If it's wrong blame him or the website i read that. You can always do your own checks.

What punches did Cotto throw in those rounds? He was out landed 19-7 in the 10th, the 11th was even and he outlanded Clottey by 2 or 3 punches in the 12th. And that was when he was in full retreat mode.

A WBC criteria has nothing to do with the IBF or WBO. Furthermore, I'll add that any of those fouls were no more blatant than the headbutt Cotto received. It certainly didn't hamper him as much as the cut hampered Cotto.

[The_Demon]

I'm in no way a *****. I'm just calling it as I see it.

Pac should have accepted the 14 day window and made the fight with PBF - but that's another issue.

Clottey is a good fighter and deserves a fight with Pac. I just can't see any way Clottey can win.

He can't use his physicality as Pac won't let him. He can't beat Pac to the punch. He can't counter punch as good as JMM. He can't outbox Pac. He doesn't have enough movement. He's not active enough. He doesn't have enough ring intelligence. He doesn't have much power.

Pacquiao has all the advantages minus the size, and he has already proven he can deal with size.

Style wise this fight plays into Pacquiao's hands, and the only people who can't see that are Pac fans and Clottey fans.

you are right clottey wont beat pacquioa.even if he boxes the fight of his life it still wont be enough,his work-rate is to low to get a decision against pac who is relentless for 12 rounds,and i cant see manny getting stopped either
even when cotto gassed clottey didnt know what to do,pacquioas aggression and speed will win him this fight

[The_Sneaky]

Judah isn't far behind in hand speed I agree, but power wise, stamina wise and even skill wise he's not on the same level.

I agree that Pac can be figured out, but Clottey is not the guy to do it. He doesn't have the skill set or boxing mind of a JMM, and so in no way will he cause as many problems for Pac as he did.

I would be pleasantly surprised if Clottey beats Pac or even gives him a tough fight, but lets call a spade a spade, Pacquiao will take this fight without too much hassle due to the match up of styles.

Judah can slip punches much better than Pac, has a better jab and can stick and move better than Pac. He is much harder to time than Pac who comes in and out. Judah lacks stamina but he can punch as hard as Pac. Remember at 140 he had fight ending power. Pac's KDs of Cotto were mostly due to surprise than power. Remember he couldn't KD a shot, weight drained de la Hoya and Cotto was a TKO.

Clottey is a technically sound boxer. As sound as JMM. The only style difference from JMM is that he is much more defensive and takes less risks.

Pac will take a lot of punishment and will only win based on being the busier fighter. He'll get the decision because even though he'll be less effective he's the big star and Clottey's effectiveness will not be as exciting or crowd pleasing as Pac's high volume activity. It'll go to the scorecards because I highly doubt Clottey can KO PAC. Also Pac is too durable to be broken down the way Clottey broke Judah down for it to be a glaring victory for Clottey.

Let's agree to disagree and enjoy the fight.

[- JCHING -]

Clottey does have faster combination punching. Mention the skills Morrales or Marquez have better than Clottey. I have watched Morrales, Marquez and Clottey and my opinion is that Clottey has better technique execution than the other two. In terms of punch selection, punch accuracy and footwork. He throws better more varied combinations, better straight rights, better left hooks, better uppercuts, crisper, cleaner punches, better defense, leaves few openings when on the attack and is almost always in the correct position to attack or defend. Marquez, Morrales take more risk and are more exciting but Clottey is technically much better than both. I'm not basing this on name or fame just ability in the ring.

Ok maybe impregnable is extreme. But it's extremely effective. He hasn't been rocked, seriously hurt, dominated, knocked out or cut in any fight and that's because he's is very hard to land clean against. That's not my opinion, that's the comments of all his past opponents. And that against every type of fighter, power, speed or volume puncher. Apart from Mayweather, name me one top welterweight who comes out of fights with as little damage as Clottey. If that's not a testament of his 'impregnable defense' then I don't know what else there is.

Can you tell me how Pac can take advantage of Clottey's style? He will be pressuring Pac but that will be behind a tight guard. He will probably jab from behind the tight guard. He'll also time and counter when Pac is on the attack. He won't be reckless with his attack, he will probably aim to break Pac down by hitting hard accurate single shots(straight rights) and quick one handed combinations(left hooks) to the body and head that leave little room for Pac to counter. His guard will be up all the time, and he'll make Pac pay if Pac attempts to concentrate to his body because Pac's head will be exposed.

Pac does not outbox his opponents, he outlands and outpunches them. Pac relies on his offense to overwhelm his opponents and I believe Clottey's defense can shut that down. It effectively shut down Margarito(first 4), Cotto, Judah, Corrales. Those are big punchers, fast punchers, combination punchers, volume punchers. None could crack that guard and I doubt Pac can.

Roach is now talking about going to Clottey's body. First off, Pac is not a really good body puncher, he can punch to the body but he's not that effective enough for it to cause serious problems for his opponents. Secondly, Clottey knows how to defend his body pretty well and doesn't weaken when his body is attacked. Thirdly, he'll make Pac pay a high price for that strategy. You can reference his fights with Judah and Corrales for illustration.

Beyond all this is the fact that Pac is quite open to be hit. He doesn't defend himself very well from punches if he in the range of the punches. He compensates by movement but if someone catches up to him, he very open to hit.

I could be wrong in my assumptions but if Clottey is on top of his game there's very little Pac can do to get inside his guard or hurt him whiles he has all the skills to cause serious hurt to Pac.

All the fights I have seen of Clottey, there is no one who has outlanded him when he is uninjured. No one has convincingly beaten him. No one has ever hurt or dominated him in any condition. No one. I can't say the same for Pac's last four opponents or even Pac himself.

I could be wrong but if you forget the hype, this fight looks more like Hopkins-de la Hoya than Pac-Cotto.

I think you're giving Clottey far too much credit here. The guy is a solid fighter, but he's not that good.

Essentially I see this fight going much the same way as Pac/Cotto did, regardless of hype.

Clottey won't take as much punishment as Cotto did against Pac due to his defense, but he also won't inflict as much damage as Cotto did on Pac, as Clottey isn't active enough, takes time off in rounds and doesn't hit as hard as Cotto.

Pacquiao loves a guy who stalks him down and that lacks lateral movement. Pac will be buzzing about him, using his speed and awkwardness to find gaps in Clotteys defense, whilst making it hard for Clottey to land anything meaningful.