It was just under four months ago that Manny Pacquiao stepped into the ring against Miguel Cotto and gave him a frightful beating. It was savage and inhumane and I felt the fight should have been stopped long before the merciful twelfth round finish; it was also beautiful.
Yes, beautiful. Beautiful in the same way dance can be beautiful, or sprinting, or in watching Secretariat fly down the track as the spectator’s wept in the stands. To watch mastery in action is a great and profound gift because I, like many others, lack the capacity to achieve such a level of performance. I lack the talent, but equally important, the dark and cruel will to victory necessary for such excellence.
But I can admire it when I see it. Four months ago Manny Pacquiao provided such a display. The amazing thing about it wasn’t that he demolished a world class opponent – a kid who had been groomed to be a champion and had become one and in the face of a Filipino with a thousand watt smile was rendered helpless – it was that Pacquiao knew in the moment what he was doing. He wasn’t competing, he was performing. At points he seemed to let Cotto connect, to limit himself in certain ways as a test of manhood and his own capacity. It’s one thing to reach that level against a ham-and-egger, but to do it against a hall of famer is something different entirely. If Miguel Cotto was three standard deviations beyond a normal welterweight on the bell curve, well… Manny Pacquiao showed he is on a different curve entirely.
So while I can give you some reasons why Joshua Clottey will be competitive in the fight against Manny Pacquiao I think it’s largely beside the point.
Clottey is big, he’ll probably come into the ring at least ten lbs heavier than Pacquiao. That’s an advantage.
Clottey has a strong right hand, Pacquiao’s poison. Clottey throws the punch better than any of Pacquiao’s recent opposition.
Clottey is dirty. He can use that head as a weapon, he could punch Pacquiao low. He might be able to get Manny off of his game.
Clottey is really good. No, he’s not a great fighter, but there’s only one other welterweight in the world I’d be confident picking against him; we’ll get to that welterweight later. Clottey might not be able to beat, for example, Shane Mosley, but he would sure compete and it wouldn’t surprise me if he won. Joshua Clottey has fought his way from obscurity and he’s done it by being tough and good and a hard-ass SOB.
Which would mean something if he wasn’t facing the word made flesh.
Yeah, I know I’m over the top in love with Pacquiao, it’s hard not to be. But Manny just oozes quality. It seeps out of him. It’s thick and startling and too hot for TV.
I don’t think Joshua Clottey has anything to do with the outcome of this fight because I think all of the agency belongs to Manny Pacquiao. He will determine what happens. He might come out and blitz the bigger man, he might play with him, or he might just throw bombs and see what happens.
Manny is just on another level.
We know who else resides on that level. Floyd Mayweather will be watching this fight from his Las Vegas home. He might claim otherwise, but he’ll be watching. I’ve largely recovered from the disappointment that it won’t be the Pretty Boy in the ring on Saturday, but that’s partially because he will be in the ring on Saturday.
Manny isn’t so much fighting Joshua Clottey anymore as he’s fighting against the limits of man as an instrument of combat, the great fighters throughout history, and the proud welterweight in Las Vegas who is having a hard time believing that there is another breathing the same air as he atop the mountain that only he resides.
Manny and Floyd… Floyd and Manny. It doesn’t matter who they fight at this point, they are fighting one another. Each jab and straight left and shoulder role is a communication and a competition. Every other individual in the sport is a fighter or a boxer… Manny and Floyd, they’re performers.
I suspect that in some deep part of himself Manny will be performing just for Floyd on Saturday night. Manny loves to entertain. He sings to adoring fans in karaoke performances, but there’s a special audience of one that Pacquiao will be crooning to in the ring. It will be a coded shibboleth that only a fellow traveler can decode. “You see,” Manny will say, “I am up here to with you. Beyond the laws of the mortals and even the greats.”
Joshua Clottey is a very good fighter, but he’s facing something beyond his limits on Saturday night. I think Manny will give us what we want.
Manny Pacquiao TKO 8 Referee’s stoppage Joshua Clottey
Enjoy the fight, everyone. Please give your predictions in an exact manner. If you think it will be a decision, give scores from all three cards.
