The upcoming clash between Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey has been dubbed "The Event", and thats exactly what Bob Arum and Jerry Jones are hoping it ends up being. Arum himself is estimating that 40,000 butts will be in the seats come fight night. I have to agree with him...IF, the fight is marketed properly, priced accordingly, and has a good undercard. The undercard can not be another snoozer like it was for Pac vs Cotto. Big events should have big undercards. I really like the idea of Antonio "Hands of Plaster" Margarito making his comeback on the card, I think that will get a lot of attention. The one feature I like the most about the fight being in Jerry World is that if the ticket sales are going very well, and they are closing in on 40,000 quickly, they can just keep opening more seats. 50,000? Fine 75,000? No Problem.
The main event has potential to be a fantastic fight, Clottey is not a mainstream name but he is a very good, strong, fearless fighter. Some talking heads believed that Clottey had gotten the best of Miguel Cotto in the bout they had last year. I was up in the air, leaning a round or 2 toward Cotto, but none the less Clottey fought very well and did a lot of damage to Miguel.
One thing about Clottey is that he can be drug into a firefight by the other fighter if they bait him, and he can get rough at times (DQ against Baldomir for headbutts). This is no picnic for Pacquiao if he takes it lightly. Clottey can bang. But...can Clottey catch Pacquiao? We will have to wait and see.
Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Marco Antonia Barrera, Oscar De La Hoya, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto all have one thing in common, they lost to Manny. That list of fighters is pretty impressive, and not having anything worse than a Draw after fighting all of them, and speaks for itself. Now I know what some of you will say "He got lucky against JMM", "Barrera was old", "ODLH was weight drained", "Hatton is not the same fighter", "When he fought Morales the Earth turned .0001 miles per hour faster during the fight, and it made Morales dizzy", yada yada yada. Here is the deal, Manny Pacquiao is a bad mudda. Whether you like him or not, the little dude can scrap. His unorthodox style makes it all that much better, jumping in on punches leaving his chin wide open, but hes so fast about it that not many can catch him. His training is sometimes different, but always ends up affective and with a purpose. He also has, arguably, one of the best trainers in the world in his corner, Freddie Roach.
The Pacquiao/Roach tandem have proven to be one that cannot be stopped yet, and aren't looking to be stopped anytime soon. They mesh well together, Roach instructs and Pacquiao listens. Its a very simple relationship they share, one of business first. I think Roach will employ a similar game plan to the Cotto fight for the one with Clottey. A plan where Manny circles his opponent, jumping in and out with quick combos and hooks.
I hope this fight turns into the event that promoters are hoping it will. It will help Boxing a great deal if "The Event" is as spectacular as it could be. The only problem is, that at the end of the night, will the result be any different for Clottey than it was for Miguel? In my opinion, Clottey is heavy handed, just like Miguel. Clottey is not the swiftest of foot on his toes, just like Miguel. Clottey likes to engage in firefights, just like Miguel. Clottey fights like Miguel and is going to end up just like Miguel.
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