Did Joshua Clottey prove all his critics wrong? And was he able to curve and an achievement by having been able to stay standing in front of Pacquiao until the last bell, thus living up to his claim as a fighter who is never been knockout in his entire professional career?
Weeks and days prior to the “The Event” in the grand home of the Dallas Cowboys, the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, a plenty of people in the world boxing society had made prediction that Manny Pacquiao, the boxing wonder from the Philippines, would easily whip the challenger from Ghana, Africa, by abbreviating the fight via knockout or via stoppage by the referee. But the 32-year-old Joshua Clottey held his ground, refusing to go down all the way to the last round of the fight for which over 51,000 people trooped to the largest domed stadium in the world to witness the supposedly mammoth and exciting prizefighting event.
Did Joshua Clottey prove all his critics wrong? And was he able to curve and an achievement by having been able to stay standing in front of Pacquiao until the last bell, thus living up to his claim as a fighter who is never been knockout in his entire professional career? Not at all. Contrary to the prevailing belief, including that of Freddie Roach, who boldly predicted his fighter will end the fight in the 7th or 8th, Clottey did not come to fight, nor did he appear to care to win the WBO welterweight crown which Pacquiao deposited on the line against him. Instead the sturdy African challenger, was seemed to have the mentality that survival from possible knockout defeat against the most famous Filipino in history who nevertheless appears to have a hidden agenda of rewriting boxing rules by getting rid off the judges their decision making job, was in Clottey’s own right, a victory enough to be proud of. With such a possible mindset of Clottey, he elected not to offer the fight that the monstrous multitude of fans wanted and came for. He fought as if his hands were like steel bars welded on his face down to his beltline, albeit, it was impressively executed.
But the pertinent problem with Clottey’s style against Pacquiao was that his hands were seemed to have a mind of themselves which were psychologically conditioned into shielding his face than throwing punches; self-evidently, defense alone cannot win a fight and is not what boxing is all about. Once a fighter hits the ring, he is expected to fight and try to win; it is for that struggle that a boxing character aims to conquer and it is for that winning objective of a fighter that makes boxing an exciting and a thrill to watch, and worth-paying for. Unfortunately, what Clottey seemed to fight for was not to try to conquer his adversary but to win against the prevailing opinions that he was not going to last the distance. He won it after all and Freddie Roach himself, Pacquiao’s top notch trainer, was among whom Clottey defeated, but the Ghanaian did it against self-evident pugilistic wisdom that is to offer a real fight and aims for real victory. Clottey emerged to have that in mind as was made more evident when he refused to listen to his corner’s advice to amplify his punching frequency because they were losing. Instead he remained adamant at his turtle-like defense and as a result any famous inhabitant of the welterweight division past and present would have performed the same if not lesser with what was achieved by Pacquiao last Saturday night – go home with a comfortable win but not with a possibly thrilling knockout. On one hand, Clottey could have pulled off a win or a knockout going in his favor, had he ventured a little farther outside his shell. It was possible. He was hitting and hurting Pacquiao with his retaliatory but extremely rare bombs. But then again, Clottey cannot live up to what a champion is all about.
Contrary to the claim of some people, Clottey’s triumph of having finished the full twelve rounds is not something of a feat he could be proud of, unless he did it with defense and offense combined, while exuding determination to pick up a win, but as clear as a cloudless sky, he appeared to be more interested with the monetary prize than the nobility of a possible victory or of putting up a good fight which could be so admirable even in defeat.
Consequently, the fight became dry and boring; if not for Pacquiao doing maneuvers all by himself just to please the thousand crowd, the fight would have bordered on being unwatchable; he even made sacrifices by allowing Clottey to hit him a couple of times so a real fight would ensue, but Pacquiao failed as Clottey was so unwilling to fire and engage. It was rather unacceptable to the disconsolate fans for Clottey had the tools- size, defense, power, and a respectable attacking skill – to give his swift but smaller Filipino opponent a lot of problems had he opted to entertain the thousands in attendance by engaging Pacquiao. To give the crowd quality entertainment is a moral duty of every fighter.
Now a number of boxing enthusiasts felt cheated by Clottey, albeit he did not mean it. He lacked gallantry. And for that his marketability is inclined to dwindle the next time around rather than thrust it to higher heights of business success for his survival in the battle of Texas last Saturday cannot be taken with high regard by all the fans around the world.
