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This article written by Frances Martel just made me go wow.
New York, NY- Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), the biggest name in boxing, is fighting this weekend, keeping the world of boxing journalism once again hostage to his seemingly unstoppable cult of personality. He is fighting Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs), whose only real loss is against Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs)—he also lost to Antonio Margarito’s (37-6, 27 KOs) cement bags and a pre-Gatti Carlos Baldomir (45-12-6, 14 KOs). The fight promises to be as droning and uneventful as the tone of the beginning of this article, because the frivolous celebrity world has corrupted the boxing landscape so much that any fight that isn’t Pacquiao-Mayweather is irrelevant. It’s a shame, because these two (and Clottey deserves recognition for this as well) are two of the most predictable, tiresome fighters in the game. Well, at least Mayweather’s performance-enhancing background is clear.
GETTING THE PREDICTION OUT OF THE WAY
Like every boxing pundit, I have a responsibility to make a prediction in Saturday’s fight. It is the single most important fight of the year so far, somehow, and it merits the attention. And by “somehow” I mean because the sport’s biggest names have been too busy accusing each other of steroid use and then not agreeing to the test that would end the discussion to prove it. Sure the complaints on the Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) side of the aisle can get irritating, but it takes two to do the work required to close the case on the steroid constroversy for a long enough time for fans to get a satisfying fight. As for my prediction? Pacquiao will win. Of course he will win—what’s to stop a man who, as Paul Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) put it on Ringtalk Radio last weekend, keeps going up and up in weight and getting hit by bigger and bigger fighters with impunity? Certainly not a fighter like Clottey, who, while deserving of tremendous respect for his record so far, is not anywhere near the level of talent that many of Pacquiao’s recent fallen victims have been. Cotto, Hatton, and even an old Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) are far superior boxers, and yet they found themselves unable to respond to Pacquiao’s punches, as well as unable to get to the smaller fighter’s chin. Given his track record, I have to respectfully disagree with our own Jarrad Woods and say that Clottey really doesn’t stand a chance.
WIN-WIN FOR THE BOXER FORMERLY KNOWN AS ‘MUNCHKIN MANNY’
The Catch-22 here for Clottey is that Pacquiao will win even if he loses, because if he loses he will dispel the steroid rumors from the minds of many people, and if he wins, his core fan base, who care little about whether Pacquiao is pumping himself with steroids or gasoline at this point, will keep buying what he has to sell. In fact, should the pressure on him from the boxing community continue to snowball and his team continue to refuse the steroid testing, it may be in Pacquiao’s best interest to lose. But that’s not going to happen on Saturday night. It’s only recently that the voices in the community calling for Pacquiao to be tested have grown loud enough for the mainstream to hear, and it will take even more time for the clamor to bring about a serious investigation into the standard operating procedure at Pacman HQ. Except it to grow stronger as the pressure on Mayweather to make a move towards fighting Pacquiao grows, especially if he defeats Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) in May (not at all a certainty for the undefeated fighter).
YES, PACQUIAO IS BAD FOR THE SPIRIT OF BOXING
While we wait for the sanctioning bodies to make a move on this under-wraps steroid scandal, a part of possible boxing lore dies, and much more worthy and talented characters that are unfortunate enough to fight during the age of Pacman continue to lurk under the shadows, where we can’t see them. At least when Margarito cheated, he only took Kermit Cintron’s (32-2-1, 28 KOs) career with him down the drain. Pacquiao has left entire weight divisions in the dust, and now we’re so close to finding out he’s been cheating this whole time we can taste the deceit. It’s a tired metaphor, but it’s never been more appropriate to call a fighter a cancer on the game as it is today to describe Pacquiao in such terms. Many commenters here argued previously that Pacquiao is the only thing keeping the sport alive when, in fact, boxing has survived despite his existence, not because of it. Pacquiao is a hero because he makes movies and sings songs and has a colorfully scandalous love life—his work in the ring, while brilliant on paper, is under serious su****ion that Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, refuse to acknowledge. He has very little discernable boxing skill, relying only on his chaotic punching and seemingly indomitable chin to get him through. And it does, but that shouldn’t be the example for upcoming fighters to follow. The sport should be generating more interest in the sweet science of it, not in the brawling. That’s what MMA is for.
New York, NY- Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), the biggest name in boxing, is fighting this weekend, keeping the world of boxing journalism once again hostage to his seemingly unstoppable cult of personality. He is fighting Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs), whose only real loss is against Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs)—he also lost to Antonio Margarito’s (37-6, 27 KOs) cement bags and a pre-Gatti Carlos Baldomir (45-12-6, 14 KOs). The fight promises to be as droning and uneventful as the tone of the beginning of this article, because the frivolous celebrity world has corrupted the boxing landscape so much that any fight that isn’t Pacquiao-Mayweather is irrelevant. It’s a shame, because these two (and Clottey deserves recognition for this as well) are two of the most predictable, tiresome fighters in the game. Well, at least Mayweather’s performance-enhancing background is clear.
GETTING THE PREDICTION OUT OF THE WAY
Like every boxing pundit, I have a responsibility to make a prediction in Saturday’s fight. It is the single most important fight of the year so far, somehow, and it merits the attention. And by “somehow” I mean because the sport’s biggest names have been too busy accusing each other of steroid use and then not agreeing to the test that would end the discussion to prove it. Sure the complaints on the Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) side of the aisle can get irritating, but it takes two to do the work required to close the case on the steroid constroversy for a long enough time for fans to get a satisfying fight. As for my prediction? Pacquiao will win. Of course he will win—what’s to stop a man who, as Paul Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) put it on Ringtalk Radio last weekend, keeps going up and up in weight and getting hit by bigger and bigger fighters with impunity? Certainly not a fighter like Clottey, who, while deserving of tremendous respect for his record so far, is not anywhere near the level of talent that many of Pacquiao’s recent fallen victims have been. Cotto, Hatton, and even an old Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) are far superior boxers, and yet they found themselves unable to respond to Pacquiao’s punches, as well as unable to get to the smaller fighter’s chin. Given his track record, I have to respectfully disagree with our own Jarrad Woods and say that Clottey really doesn’t stand a chance.
WIN-WIN FOR THE BOXER FORMERLY KNOWN AS ‘MUNCHKIN MANNY’
The Catch-22 here for Clottey is that Pacquiao will win even if he loses, because if he loses he will dispel the steroid rumors from the minds of many people, and if he wins, his core fan base, who care little about whether Pacquiao is pumping himself with steroids or gasoline at this point, will keep buying what he has to sell. In fact, should the pressure on him from the boxing community continue to snowball and his team continue to refuse the steroid testing, it may be in Pacquiao’s best interest to lose. But that’s not going to happen on Saturday night. It’s only recently that the voices in the community calling for Pacquiao to be tested have grown loud enough for the mainstream to hear, and it will take even more time for the clamor to bring about a serious investigation into the standard operating procedure at Pacman HQ. Except it to grow stronger as the pressure on Mayweather to make a move towards fighting Pacquiao grows, especially if he defeats Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) in May (not at all a certainty for the undefeated fighter).
YES, PACQUIAO IS BAD FOR THE SPIRIT OF BOXING
While we wait for the sanctioning bodies to make a move on this under-wraps steroid scandal, a part of possible boxing lore dies, and much more worthy and talented characters that are unfortunate enough to fight during the age of Pacman continue to lurk under the shadows, where we can’t see them. At least when Margarito cheated, he only took Kermit Cintron’s (32-2-1, 28 KOs) career with him down the drain. Pacquiao has left entire weight divisions in the dust, and now we’re so close to finding out he’s been cheating this whole time we can taste the deceit. It’s a tired metaphor, but it’s never been more appropriate to call a fighter a cancer on the game as it is today to describe Pacquiao in such terms. Many commenters here argued previously that Pacquiao is the only thing keeping the sport alive when, in fact, boxing has survived despite his existence, not because of it. Pacquiao is a hero because he makes movies and sings songs and has a colorfully scandalous love life—his work in the ring, while brilliant on paper, is under serious su****ion that Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, refuse to acknowledge. He has very little discernable boxing skill, relying only on his chaotic punching and seemingly indomitable chin to get him through. And it does, but that shouldn’t be the example for upcoming fighters to follow. The sport should be generating more interest in the sweet science of it, not in the brawling. That’s what MMA is for.
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