HOLLYWOOD—Boxing pundits were nearly unanimous in praising Manny Pacquiao’s total domination of Ghanaian challenger Joshua Clottey in Texas Saturday night.
But Floyd Mayweather Jr. was unimpressed, claiming that Clottey “exposed” Pacquiao as a one-dimensional fighter despite failing to wrest the Filipino superstar’s World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.
“Personally, I think Pacquiao got exposed in that fight for being one-dimensional,” Mayweather told Tom Jenkins of Cagereport.net “You can have all [the] offense ability in the world, but with no defense, you’re not going to last long against a good counter puncher such as myself.”
Mayweather said Clottey, despite keeping a defensive shell all fight long, hurt Pacquiao in the few times he went on the offensive.
“Each time (Clottey) threw something, it landed,” the still unbeaten American said. “Then at the end, Pacquiao’s was all busted up.
“When’s the last time you’ve seen my face all messed up like that? That’s the difference between an amateur and a true pound-for-pound boxer.”
Mayweather, of course, held the pound-for-pound title until he went on semiretirement and Pacquiao bamboozled his foes one after the other.
He made his comeback announcement on May 2 last year, the same day Pacquiao demolished British star Ricky Hatton in just two rounds. Despite beating Juan Manuel Marquez last September, though, Mayweather failed to reclaim his No. 1 tag from the Filipino icon.
Perhaps envious of Pacquiao’s success, Mayweather has always found a way to criticize the only fighter to become a champion in seven weight classes.
This time, the outspoken American hit out at the way Pacquiao fights, conveniently dismissing the Filipino superstar’s Boxer of the Decade tag and growing reputation as the most exciting boxer ever.
“I think Pacquiao gave the fans a boring fight,” Mayweather said. “He was punching his arms for all 12 rounds. At least when you watch Floyd Mayweather, you know you’ll be seeing non-stop action for 30 minutes straight and that’s what you’ll see on May 1st.”
The 33-year-old Mayweather will do battle with compatriot Shane Mosley on that date for the World Boxing Association welterweight crown.
Mayweather was supposed to fight Pacquiao last March 13, but negotiations fell through after he insisted that the Filipino submit himself to Olympic-style drug testing.
He also downplayed the 50,994 attendance posted by the Pacquiao-Clottey tussle, saying he had drawn more in the past and generated a (gate) revenue of $2.5 million for one fight.
As to Pacquiao’s immense popularity, Mayweather said: “The only reason why he’s popular is because he’s an ethnic minority and from the Philippines, so it’s something special. If he was from Africa he would be just another boxer.”
Mayweather also reiterated his suspicion that Pacquiao is taking performance-enhancing drugs and that it was Pacquiao who backed off from their showdown.
