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When we last spoke with FightNews’ photo journalist Chris Cozzone, he was days away from getting ready for a big trip to Texas to cover all of the developments and storylines revolving around this past weekend’s Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey contest. Cozzone claims that while the fight itself may have ultimately disappointed on many fronts, the experience itself was both rewarding and taxing.
Cozzone is based out Las Vegas, where it was assumed by many the fight would be held but Jerry Jones threw the sport a curveball by landing the contest just outside of Dallas in the recently structured Cowboys Stadium. The event was something completely new for the area, particularly because the venue itself, which had yet to host a big time boxing event. When looking back on this past weekend Cozzone opens up on what he remembers best.
“I hit Dallas on Wednesday morning,” Cozzone reflects. “I didn’t stay in Dallas because the fight was actually in Arlington, and most everyone was staying at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine which was about 20 minutes away. The Gaylord Texan is like a huge Las Vegas casino without the slot machines. The whole saying ‘Everything is bigger in Texas’ was true because everything was huge. Everywhere I went everyone was talking about the fight. If you turned on the TV the local news was covering it pretty well. There was a huge buzz in Dallas and it was an exciting event for the city. Everywhere we went, whether it was to the weigh in or the Stadium for the fight itself, everything was huge. The place was impressive.”
The Gaylord was reportedly filled with members of the media, rabid fans, and boxing luminaries such as Miguel Cotto, Marco Antonio Barrera, and others. While the pre-fight buzz is typically heightened by the event’s weigh in, Cozzone feels that something was out of sync for this particular contest.
“The way the weigh in was set up was a little weird,” Cozzone admits. “It wasn’t disappointing but maybe I didn’t get the full impact of the weigh in because I was right up front taking photos. I know there were a lot of people there but the way it was spread out I couldn’t tell. The way this was spread out it wasn’t quite as noisy. Maybe that’s because it was outside. To me it wasn’t’ a great atmosphere and I couldn’t really tell. When you go to a big weigh in out in Las Vegas at the MGM or Mandalay, you can get three to five thousand people and you know they are all there. They usually have their weigh ins in a cut off part of the arena and it is loud and there are people everywhere.”
Following the weigh in Cozzone would again find himself in Grapevine, where a Top Rank live card was being held. Cozzone claims that the card served as somewhat of an appetizer the main event and that the fights were better than Saturday night’s card in terms of action. The next night Cozzone would find himself walking into Cowboys Stadium and was taken back instantly.
“Just the sheer size of it was enormous,” Cozzone says of the Cowboys arena. “It was the biggest attendance that I have ever been a part of. The biggest before that was 28,000 or so when Oscar De La Hoya fought Stevie Forbes in LA. That had been the biggest in the twelve or thirteen years of covering fights. Having 50 plus thousand people was quite the difference. They also had an enormous video screen that must have been like watching a drive in movie or something.”
Living on the West Coast, Cozzone is accustomed to covering cards in Las Vegas and Southern California. When speaking on the difference of what Dallas brought to the table, Cozzone seems to concede that while the production was great, he still missed certain elements that would have been there if the bout was in Sin City.
“Just the crowd itself, that was the biggest difference,” Cozzone notes. “Places like Mandalay Bay and the MGM only hold up to 15,000 or so but there is something to be said about Las Vegas. To me it feels that it is louder and that there is a bigger impact in Las Vegas. Maybe just because the arena is smaller and you are closer. Some of the seats in Cowboys Stadium are pretty far back and I couldn’t imagine what people were watching.”
Whether or not people were able to witness Pacquiao from far back or up close, one thing that was clear was how easily he controlled the reluctant Clottey. When asking if he feels that Pacquiao did what he was expected to do, Cozzone nods his head.
“He definitely did,” Cozzone says. “I still have to say he is number one, pound for pound. All Clottey wanted to do was survive. He didn’t take much risk and he wasn’t really aggressive. In the later rounds he was aggressive in spots but he looked like he just wanted to survive. It’s very hard to knock someone out when all they want to do is survive. Especially someone like Clottey who is a master of defense. I thought Pacquiao was able to hit him to the body a lot and sometimes even split his guard. It didn’t make for a great fight but that was Clottey’s fault. Pacquiao would have fought the way he always fights if the guy in front of him would have fought back.”
When the decision was announced in Pacquiao’s favor that marked the time when many people in the arena either begin to eye post-fight festivities or exit the facility to get home and simply call it a night. For Cozzone, however, his night was just beginning.
“People don’t understand,” Cozzone says of his duties. “They think since I am shooting digital all I have to do is upload my photos. They think it is instantaneous that all you have to do is upload your photos and it’s a piece of cake. A good, high action twelve-round fight you can get up to 1500 images and for the Pacquiao fight I think it was under 1,000 since there wasn’t a lot of toe to toe action. You are talking about looking through 1,000 photos and immediately after the fight you are on a deadline. I had to get some photos out to Fightnews and I was also working for AFP and as soon as the fight is over they want their pictures now. You’re job is that you have to sift through as many photos as you can as quickly as you can and get them out. First you want to get a good winning shot and at least a few action shots. You have to caption them and email them right away.”
Even after Cozzone is done uploading the first set of pictures and distributing them so that the world can see, he is still on a constant grind. For a Pacquiao fight in particular Cozzone must go with the flow during all times.
“It’s non stop action,” the Chicago native insists. “You have to do this between when the fight is over and the press conference is because you also have to shoot that. You’re trying to do this as soon as the fight is over and you are trying to pack your gear, and you have to get through the crowd and get to the press conference. When you get to the conference you pretty much wait until Manny Pacquiao arrives and up until then you have your computer on your lap and you have to keep loading more photos while getting your camera ready for the press conference. It’s non-stop and I pulled an all-nighter that night. A lot of people don’t realize how much work it is. They assume you just go to a big fight and get to enjoy the after parties but as soon as the fight is over, our work really begins.”
Following the festivities in Dallas Cozzone drove to Houston for another photo shoot and attended to another session back in Las Vegas on Monday. Having arrived back home in the Valley, he will have a full slate ahead of him but whether he is traveling to a new city to cover a huge event or staying local, Cozzone claims that he simply loves being around the scene.
“I have a bunch of fights in Las Vegas,” Cozzone closes out when assessing his immediate future. “There is the Maidana-Cayo fight at the Hard Rock March 27th, then the weekend of Hopkins-Jones with a ShoBox fight the night before. It’s two weekends in a row there and then April 10th there is a Top Rank card and you have Mosley-Mayweather just around the corner. I love those cards. I will shoot anything. I don’t care if it is a big event or a small event, I just love shooting boxing.”
To access Chris Cozzone’s exclusive images during his time covering the Pacquiao-Clottey card please click on the collage or slideshow below…
