Pacquiao dominates Clottey
Mar 14th, 2010 by Bilal Ali
Joshua Clottey may have been bigger, but that was his only edge on Saturday night. Manny Pacquiao clearly outworked Clottey, outpunching him four, five and even six to one at times in winning a wide decision before a standing room-only crowd of 50,994 at Cowboys Stadium.
Pacquiao punished Clottey with combinations to the body throughout in winning the unanimous decision to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title and his status as the world’s finest boxer.
It was no contest as Clottey simply kept his guard high and rarely threw punches. According to CompuBox, Pacquiao landed 246 of 1,231 punches; Clottey connected on just 108 of 399.
Pacquiao took advantage by using his blazing hand speed to rip through Clottey’s gloves and land hard, punishing shots.
He made the former champion wince several times as he fired off hard combinations at Clottey’s midsection.
Despite the exhortations in the corner of trainer Lenny DeJesus, Clottey never opened up and fought aggressively. He was backed up all night and, except for an occasional shot, never did much to Pacquiao.
It was another virtuoso performance for the Filipino superstar who has won titles or has claimed the linear championship in seven different weight classes. Pacquiao is on a collision course with unbeaten rival Floyd Mayweather Jr., who fights Shane Mosley on May 1.