You’re probably wondering how on earth can Joshua Clottey win this fight. He appears to have little chance when he faces off against 
Manny Pacquiao in three weeks. Not many people outside of his homeland of Ghana, West Africa think he can win.
Here’s why.
Clottey recently lost to Miguel Cotto. The same Miguel Cotto who got beat down by Pacquiao last year. I know that it’s silly to compare how two fighters fared against a common opponent but Clottey’s performance against Cotto simply does not match up well with Pacquiao’s.
Clottey also has shown a reluctance to pull the trigger in his biggest fights. Maybe it’s an issue of physical fatigue. Or maybe it’s simply mental. Whatever it is, this gun-shy nature, especially late in his two fights against Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, cost him a chance at victory in both fights. If he commits the same sin against Pac Man, he may not last 12 rounds for the first time in his career.
Yes, it appears that Clottey has no chance. But looks can be deceiving.
The Case for Joshua Clottey: Physical Strength
For the first time, Manny Pacquiao will be facing off against a full-blown, welterweight. Not a blown-up Ricky Hatton coming off a knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather. Not a weight-drained Oscar De La Hoya fighting at 147 for the first time in years.
In Clottey, Pacquiao will be facing the strongest boxer in his career. Talented, yet naturally smaller boxers like Diego Corrales and Zab Judah were unable to hold up against Clottey. Will Clottey’s strength have a similar impact on the Pac Man?
The Case for Joshua Clottey: El Dinamita
In case you didn’t know, "El Dinamita" is Juan Manuel Marquez’s fighting nickname. Simply put, Clottey better be studying film of Pacquiao’s epic wars with Marquez like an undergrad cramming for Sweet Science 101: A Lesson in Counter-Punching by Juan Manuel Marquez.
Clottey is a natural counter-puncher. Watching tapes of Marquez-Pacquiao may give him the clues that he needs to pass the considerable test that is the Pac Man.
The Case for Joshua Clottey: Manny Pacquiao
Will thoughts of his political career after boxing or of a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. later in the year cause Pacquiao to overlook Clottey? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the Pac Man is looking past Clottey.
He’s accomplished just about everything in his career. What does a win against Joshua Clottey mean? If what I say is true, the always-in-shape Clottey may be primed for an upset.
Next week, I will state the case for Manny Pacquiao. Stay tuned.
Most awaited fight of 2010 is almost here. Pacquiao will surely have a hard fight with big clottey.
@Lance:Calling it the biggest fight of 2010 is kinda laughable man, it’s not even Mayweather-Mosley, but I’ll take it for now.
6 days to go before the Pacquiao vs Clottey fight night. I am excited to watch the fight. I know it will be an exciting one!
I will still pick Pacquiao for this fight. He needs to KO this guy to let them know who’s the Pound for pound.
Theres been a lot of talk in the press of this being a very dangerous fight for Manny. I disagree completely. Joshua Clottey is far too lazy to give someone with the speed of Pacquiao any problems at all. When fighting Cotto Joshua was given the room to be able to switch off for 2 and a half minutes a round. No way is Manny going to give him a seconds breathing room in this fight. He’ll be on him from the first bell, forcing Clottey to fight to keep him away.
This will be a Manny boxing lesson. He’ll make it look easy and Clottey will be seeing stars by the eighth/
@ chris K, i agree with much of what you say except that Clottey will be seeing stars in round 8…he may get buzzed a few times, but if Pacquiao proves to hit harder than margarito, cotto, judah, and corrales (rip), then that’s saying a lot. but where he does have an advantage is in the speed department. he’s probably faster than my entire list (with the possible exception of ‘super’ judah), and we know that speed is often the key to securing the ko, not raw power/strength. we shall see…