Freddie Roach said 147 lbs. Michael Koncz said 144 lbs. Guess who won that argument? But just a few days later the weight seems up for debate again.
The case for 144 or even 145 lbs. is quite strong.
Just six months ago, “catchweight,” was a very seldom used phrase in boxing. Today it seems to be quite mainstream. Today we don’t have fights, we have challenge matches approved by attorneys, music producers and world sanctioning bodies.
Joshua Clottey hasn’t made 144 lbs. since 1997. This is called big-time leverage by Manny Pacquiao. He used it as a challenger against then World Boxing Organization welterweight (147) champion Miguel Cotto to bring the fight down to 144, and as champion he’s forcing Clottey to come down from his normal 147 down to a troublesome 144.
And Pacquiao has a perfect right to do this. Clottey is bigger than Cotto, so the move makes sense.
But it doesn’t seem right. Your choice should be 140 or 147. Nothing in between.
If Clottey wanted his biggest payday ever and a title shot on this Texas -sized big of a stage, he was going to have to bend over and make concessions to put it delicately.
In March of 1997, in his 15th pro fight against Mark Ramsey, Clottey last fought at 144. That was a long time ago. He’s now 35-3 (20 KO’s).
Whoever has the financial clout (meaning the ticket seller) actually has more negotiating power than the champion. In this case promoter Bob Arum and Pacquiao have both. If Clottey would have balked, Arum would have simply gone to whoever was next on his speed-dial short list for another opponent.
Since Pacquiao is holding all the cards I don’t think we will be hearing all the complaining and arguing we had over last summer as the Cotto fight was being made. It’s what we call in boxing “The Golden Rule.” He who has the gold makes the rules.
Who would Clottey complain to anyway?
