It was the perfect platform for Joshua Clottey to showcase his boxing skills in front of a crowd close to 51,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium. On Saturday night, he was anything but impressive. Normally, Clottey relies on his strengths: left hooks, uppercuts and big right hands. Instead, we saw him playing it safe, going into a defensive shell with a lack of punch output.
By Clottey not showing much effort, he will always be considered a fighter afraid of taking risks. True champions never step in the ring being overly cautious; that is what makes the fearless Pacquaio one of the best.
Clottey’s disappointing performance lacked the aggression we are accustomed to seeing from him lately. Instead, Clottey went back to his old style of fighting, becoming complacent during fights while doing little of nothing to win. A fight of this magnitude will never come again in his career.
It’s clear to me Clottey took this fight for the payday, not to enhance his boxing career. Fighting with pride, he could have garnered more respect. The week the fight between Pacquiao and Clottey was being made, I spoke to him about the opportunity. Now that I look back on it, Clottey ended our conversation by saying, “In the end, it’s all about the money.”
Damn, I knew he was intrigued by the money, but he could have given a valid effort. After suffering his fourth loss, he said, “This is the only fight I feel I ever lost.” This is very true because Clottey has told me in several interviews that he felt he was wronged in his bouts with Baldomir, Margarito and Cotto.
As for what’s next for Clottey, my guess is that he will await the anticipated Mosley-Mayweather contest on May 1st. I’m sure Clottey is hoping for a Mosley loss since, for quite some time, he has expressed interest in facing the future Hall of Famer. “I really want to fight Shane Mosley. I’ve been looking for that fight since 2004. I keep trying but he doesn’t want to fight me. He respects me as a boxer . He respects that I’m one of the best welterweights out there. If I could fight him, I would be very happy,” stated Clottey in one of my recent interviews with him.
It could be Pacquiao-Mayweather and Mosley-Clottey next. Then again, Mosley could upset Mayweather and then you never know, we could have Pacquiao-Mosley. This is why boxing is such a great sport; it’s unpredictable. That being said, when you’re given an opportunity that Clottey was just given, you have to take full advantage of it. Clottey, however, did not, and he let a great opportunity to slip through his fingers.
