ARLINGTON, Texas — Fighting on the star,
Manny Pacquiao showed once again why he is such a star.
With the biggest fight crowd in the U.S. in 17
years cheering him on at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao dominated a strangely
passive Joshua Clottey from the opening bell Saturday night to retain
his welterweight title and cement his status as the best pound-for-pound
fighter in the world.
The fight wasn't close, and it was never in
doubt. It was so one-sided that even those in the cheap seats among the
crowd of 50,994 could tell without looking at the giant video screens
over the ring that Pacquiao was in total command.
One ringside judge gave Pacquiao every round,
while the two others gave him all but one. The Associated Press scored
it a shutout for the Filipino sensation.
It wasn't as flashy as his knockout of Ricky
Hatton or as savage as the beating he gave Oscar De La Hoya, but there
was no doubt Pacquiao was in command the entire way against a fighter
who kept his gloves up high in front of his face and chose to engage him
only in spurts. Clottey's strategy worked to keep him upright, but he
was never competitive in the biggest fight of his career.
"He's a very tough opponent," Pacquiao said.
"He was looking for a big shot."
Pacquiao was supposed to have been fighting
Floyd Mayweather Jr. instead of Clottey, but the megafight fell apart
over a dispute over blood testing. He took out any frustrations over
losing the biggest fight of his career by beating up Clottey on the
biggest stage of his career.
"I want that fight, the world wants that fight,
but it's up to him," Pacquiao said. "I'm ready to fight any time."
That time won't come soon. Mayweather is
fighting Shane Mosley on May 1, and the earliest the two could get
together would be in the fall and only if Mayweather backs off his
demands for blood testing.
The fight this night was more of an event than
a real competition, bringing in the biggest crowd in the U.S. for a
fight since Julio Cesar Chavez fought Pernell Whitaker at the Alamodome
in 1993. It paid off handsomely for Pacquiao, though, who earned at
least $12 million and built on the reputation he has gained as one of
the greatest fighters of his time.
Promoters not only sold out the 45,000 seats
available for the bout, but added thousands more standing room only
"party passes" for fans who could get a glimpse of the action and see
every drop of sweat on the huge overhead screens.
"It's one of the most incredible stories not
just in boxing but anywhere," promoter Bob Arum said. "Fourteen years
ago he was sleeping in a cardboard shack in the Philippines and tonight
he puts 51,000 people in this palace in Dallas."
The tone of the fight was set early, with
Pacquiao advancing against his taller opponent and throwing punches with
both hands from all angles. It was the same style that gave him
spectacular wins in his last three fights and, though Clottey was
clearly the bigger fighter, he fought back only sparingly.
"Everything's working now," trainer Freddie
Roach told Pacquiao after the third round. "It's easy."
It was easy, too, much to the delight of the
crowd and much to the delight of an entire country back in Pacquiao's
homeland. There, traffic came to a halt and huge numbers of Filipinos,
including army troops and allied American soldiers, jammed theatres in
shopping malls and military camps nationwide to root for Pacquiao. In
what has now become a familiar scene, Filipinos repeatedly yelled his
name and threw punches in the air after the country's boxing hero was
declared the winner.
Unlike most of Pacquiao's fights, this one
lacked suspense from the opening seconds of the fight, when Clottey
assumed the peek-a-boo position he would remain in except for brief
spurts the entire bout.
"He has speed, I lost the fight," Clottey
said. "He's fast, that's why I was taking my time."
Arum said he wasn't disappointed in the effort
put out by Clottey, who was guaranteed to make at least $1.25 million.
"What was he supposed to do? If he played
offense he'd get knocked out," Arum said. "I can't blame the kid for
trying to wear him down."
Clottey seemed content to hold his hands high
in a peek-a-boo style through much of the early rounds, trying to pick
off Pacquiao's punches and perhaps rally late. But he gave away round
after round, despite landing some clean punches on the rare occasions
when he would throw a combination.
"You gotta take a chance," Clottey's trainer,
Lenny DeJesus, implored him after the sixth round. "You're in a fight
and you gotta start taking chances."
Clottey didn't, though, and his prize was that
he was the first fighter in Pacquiao's last six fights to make it to
the final bell. The only suspense when it came time to announce the
decision was whether the three ringside judges would give Clottey any of
the rounds.
Pacquiao threw three times as many punches as
Clottey, an average of 100 a round, and landed as many power shots as
Clottey threw. Final punch stats showed Pacquiao landing 246 of 1,231
punches to 108 of 399 for Clottey.
Clottey had gotten the fight off a good
performance in his last bout against Miguel Cotto, but he was clearly
more concerned with surviving the all-out assault that Pacquiao is noted
for than winning the fight.
"Joshua Clottey had the power to knock him out
but was reluctant to punch," DeJesus said. "We clearly got beat. I
don't think he won a round."
Roach agreed, saying he saw nothing in Clottey
to win.
"He had a good defense, but defense isn't
enough to win a fight," Roach said.