Former welterweight titleholder Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KO’s) will have the opportunity of a lifetime on March 13th when he takes on current welterweight titlist and pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO’s) March 13th at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX.
With a win, Clottey would not only reclaim a welterweight title, but also would cement his place as one of the top fighters in the world pound for pound, set himself up for massive future paydays and finally gain notoriety outside of hardcore boxing circles for his talents within the ring.
Thus far in his career, Clottey has been a hard luck and hard nosed fight. His three losses are all somewhat disputable.
His first loss came in 1999 to future welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir. Clottey was ahead on all three judges scorecards when he was disqualified in the 11th round for excessive headbutting. Clottey and his team have claimed that the DQ was unjust. Tape of the fight is hard to come by.
His next loss came in 2006 in a welterweight title fight against Antonio Margarito. After being in control through the first four rounds, Clottey injured his left hand and lost rounds 5 – 11 on all three official scorecards. He would eventually lose a unanimous decision.
Most recently, he lost a close split decision to then titleholder Miguel Cotto. While this writer felt Cotto clearly won a competitive decision, many observers felt Clottey deserved the nod. Almost everyone feels the win was in his grasp if not for a few tactical errors on his part (namely, not throwing enough punches the final four rounds of the fight.)
In his biggest win, Clottey won a 9 round technical decision over former undisputed champion Zab Judah in a title fight in 2008. The fight went to the scorecards early due to what was perceived as an accidental headbutt causing a cut over the eye of Judah. However, replays clearly show that it was a punch from Clottey that caused the cut and not a butt. Nevertheless, Clottey won. However, even while winning it was not in the most prestigious way.
Clottey should present some problems for Pacquiao. He has a granite chin and has only been down once, a flash knockdown against Cotto. He has solid defense and blocks most of the shots that come his way. He also may be the biggest natural non-dehydrated welterweight that Pacquiao has ever faced.
Of course, Pacquiao will have a huge speed advantage. It’ll be up to Clottey to deal with that.
When Clottey challenged Cotto for a welterweight belt in June of last year, Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach were ringside scouting Cotto as his next opponent. Pacquiao supporters should hope they made attention to Clottey while they were there as well.
