Big Joshua Clottey shot a message across the boxing world when he was thoroughly whooping Antonio Margarito. A hand injury suffered by Clottey midway through the fight was the life raft that Margarito needed. After the hand injury, Margarito was able to regain his footing and got out of there with a decision.
Clottey is no joke, he has impressive victories over Zab Judah, and the late Diego “Chico” Corrales. More recently, he came up short against Miguel Cotto, but some thought he should have gotten the nod in that scrap as well.
Clottey is a big strong welterweight, with a good chin, and an aggressive style. OK, so now the bad news. He’s fighting Manny Pacquiao. Making a living wiping out legends, Manny Pacquiao lines them up and knocks them all down. Clottey may not be any different, but we shall see.
Recently, I toured the Jackson, MS sports bars and got the fans thoughts on this upcoming March 13th showdown. Most of the fans that I spoke to leaned toward a Pacquiao victory. There were however some that felt that Clottey may pull this off, I spoke to Matthew Ferris at the Time Out Sports bar, and got his thoughts, “Joshua Clottey is strong man. Did you see what he did to Margarito? He was killing that guy up until he hurt his hand.” The size and strength of Clottey is something not to be taken lightly.
Pacquiao has made his living (as of late) wiping out every Mexican legend that has been put into his path, then moving up in weight and reeking havoc on the big fellas. Big fellas such as Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto. When I ran into bartender Maurice Johnson, he made it clear who he thought would win, “Look, the same thing that has happened to Manny’s last few opponents is going to happen to Clottey. He’s too slow, and he will get peppered with speed and angles all night. Pacquiao will do the same thing he’s been doing,. He’s going to wear down Clottey via speed, angles, and even power, then fiinish him off late.”
This if anything is a well earned payday for Clottey. Personally? this writer feels as if Pacquiao cruises to victory once again,but you never know. Anything can happen in boxing. Clottey is strong enough so that if he catches Pacquiao coming in with something, you just never know. That being said, would I bet the farm on it? No.
