Near the end of the documentary “Wild Man Blues,” filmmaker Woody Allen returns home from a European trip during which he has been given many awards of merit. He visits his elderly parents and shows them the trophies and various praises that he has received. They are impressed, of course, but seem more interested in pointing out that if he had chosen differently he could have been a terrific pharmacist.
I’m not sure if the analogy is right, but I think I’m trying to say that both parents and boxing fans are hard to please. Manny Pacquiao comprehensively and systematically beat Joshua Clottey on Saturday night and for many there seems to be a sense of disappointment.
This is partially Pacquiao’s fault, he has raised the standard of performance so profoundly high that even excellence is seen as lacking. When you reach the very apex that is the price to pay. It’s fine, and I doubt Pacquiao is too troubled, but it is a little unfair. When Pacquiao crushed De La Hoya, Hatton, and Cotto many said the reason he did so well was because of flaws in his opponents and it didn’t mean all that much. After he ground down Clottey but was unable to stop him some say it also doesn’t mean much.
It means a lot. Clottey didn’t bottle it or give a disappointing performance. He did exactly what he has done every single fight in his career. Against other fighters it is enough to win or at least remain competitive, against Pacquiao he was simply outclassed. Clottey wasn’t going to be knocked out, he seemed determined on that point at least, but he never had the capacity to win. Asking for Clottey to throw more punches and be more aggressive is like asking Paulie Malignaggi to become a KO artist; it’s an impossibility. Clottey fights a certain way because that’s who he is. Manny tore him to bits.
Yes, he tore him to bits. Manny ate Clottey up with terrific body punching, the best and most consistent body work of his career. It was a disciplined and well-executed gameplan. Manny got tagged a few times when he tried to get Clottey to open up, but when Pacquiao was executing properly it was brilliant to watch.
I love seeing consistent body work and Manny’s was terrific. Not only was Manny stepping around the guard and finishing with hooks, but he was also throwing combinations of straight punches to the guts, something one rarely sees. One can only give credit to Clottey’s iron stomach muscles for taking so many powerful shots and still retaining his earmuff guard.
No, it wasn’t the transcendent performance we’ve seen over the last few years from Pacquiao, but that’s no great shame. There is no fighter in the world that would have looked all that impressive against Clottey. His style negates that possibility while also limiting his own chances. Saturday night displayed a different side of Pacquiao’s maturation, a willingness to work for it.
Manny is running into a bit of the same problem that Floyd Mayweather has encountered over recent years. Dominant victories over Carlos Baldomir and Juan Manuel Marquez are viewed as disappointments. It just shows how terrific these athletes are that even excellence is not viewed as enough.
