Fire Quinito rounds up all the essential links from the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey snoozefest so you could have more time to read the latest on Katrina Halili’s case against Hayden Kho.



Gabriel Montoya, Max Boxing: “Pacquiao came out as usual, all energy and aggression. He slid left and right, in and out, looking for an opening and commencing to create them with jabs to the head and the tiny opening between Clottey’s elbows, that were held up seemingly all night in a shell defense. Pacquiao marked his territory on Clottey early. A right hook around the guard to the head. Left lead or right jab to the stomach. Right hook to the body. Over and over, Pacquiao threw combinations up and down at Clottey, who could only cover up, move forward, and take abuse as he bided his time waiting for Buddha-knows-what.”

Toff Rada, Better Late than Never: “For all intents and purposes, the ‘Event’ between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey ended at the 1:37 mark of the fourth round. It was at this point when Pacquiao unleashed a two-fisted punch, reminiscent of the legendary Filipino action star Fernando Poe Jr. Years from now, after the PacMan has been enshrined in the Boxing Hall of Fame, and Clottey largely forgotten, people will remember this bout solely because of this punch. It could even evolve into boxing's version of a ‘finishing move’, something that when you see, you know the fight's over. In basketball, this would have been the equivalent of leaping over your opponent for a dunk, or grabbing the ball midway through the shot for a block.”

Michael Rosenthal, The Ring: “Manny Pacquiao can’t look spectacular against an opponent who refuses to fight. Joshua Clottey curled up like a frightened armadillo and barely threw enough punches to win a round Saturday night at the new Cowboys Stadium. The tireless Filipino was at his most active, trying to break down the bigger man, but he couldn’t do serious damage without openings.”

Greg Bishop, New York Times: “The question lingered. When would Clottey let his hands go and unleash his superior strength and size? When would he, you know, fight?”

Bryan Armen Graham, Sports Illustrated: “Make no mistake: Clottey is one of the world's elite welterweights. This wasn't Oscar De La Hoya, a faded legend who'd outgrown the 147-pound division. It wasn't Miguel Cotto, who fought Pacquiao at a catch-weight of 145. Clottey is a full-sized welterweight with significant height and reach advantages who likely outweighed Pacquiao by 15 pounds. And the tough-as-nails Ghanian couldn't even win a round (according to two of the three judges). Pacquiao's fight plan to attack the body -- he landed a career-high 108 body shots -- was executed to perfection against stubborn opposition. ‘This is the first time I have lost a fight,’ Clottey said. ‘All my fights I lost, I never thought I lost.’”

Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times: “Final punch stats by the Compubox people, who and probably went home with cramped fingers, had Pacquiao throwing a total of 1,271 punches, to Clottey's 399. The main consolation for the fans was that they could tell their grandchildren someday that they spent an evening in a new palace of an arena, watching a short, stumpy man trying to chop down a tree, which didn't fall.”
Andrew Fruman, The Boxing Bulletin: “It might be unfair to come down too hard on Clottey for his lack of output, as the kind of vigour he needed tonight has never been part of his game and probably is just not wired into his fighting psyche. A great prizefighter needs more than craft to reach the pinnacle of the sport; he needs that little bit of extra internal fire to drive his hands to constantly move.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN: “Pacquiao's transformation has been nothing short of remarkable, and Saturday's fight just added to his growing legend. He has also become a worldwide phenomenon with a media corps that follows him like it once followed Muhammad Ali. He performs concerts after his fights. And he has become an amazing gate attraction. He has become the face of boxing.”

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: “Arum should’ve been vowing to do everything he could to make the Mayweather fight happen. He had just sold the public on a fight that wasn’t remotely competitive. And while that falls mostly on Clottey’s shoulders, the guy who shelled out his money doesn’t care. The truth was Clottey wasn’t in Pacquiao’s league. ‘If he played offense he would’ve been knocked out,’ Arum acknowledged. If it weren’t for Pacquiao’s relentless effort, even when he was way up on the scorecards and had nothing to gain, this would’ve been a complete disaster.”

Tim Starks, The Queensberry Rules: “This fight proved mostly that Pac's work rate was higher than Clottey's. And for a scouting report about how Pacquiao might do against the winner of Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley in May, it was mixed. On one level, I think Mayweather's defensive style is superior to Clottey's, and Clottey isn't as good a defensive fighter or as capable of mixing offense with defense as Mayweather is. Clottey also put enough offense on Pacquiao that Mosley might have more luck being being aggressive against Pacquiao than Clottey ever could've. On another level, both of those men would open up more than the shy Clottey would, which would give Pacquiao more chances to land.”

Barry Horn, Dallas Morning News: “It was a historic night for boxing in Texas and the United States. It featured Pacquiao, the biggest star in the sport, fighting before an enthusiastic throng with Cowboys cheerleaders flitting in and out of view. To make sure no one could forget whose house it was, three Cowboys cheerleaders sang the national anthem.”

Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas: “Fans paid ticket prices ranging from $35 for standing room to $700 for ringside seats. Parking prices ranged from $30 to $50. ‘Jerry Jones put on a show,’ said Big Sugar Ray Phillips, a former pro fighter from Mineral Wells, Texas, who is now a trainer and actor. ‘The good thing is that he didn't price out the fans. He made the prices reasonable for the working man to come to fights like this.’”

Scott Chris, Bad Left Hook: “Last night’s card wasn't too great. The main event was a one-sided drag and the undercard stunk. But the building? The building was phenomenal. 50,994 fans came to Arlington, Texas, to see the world-renowned Manny Pacquiao defend his throne against Joshua Clottey. What's amazing is that only a speck of those people came for Clottey. For the most part, Pacquiao and the building sold the show. And sell they did. I won't say that everything went perfectly. With that big of a venue and fights like the ones seen last night, the crowd is never going to fully play into anything. Instead of the roars you hear in the more intimate Vegas casinos, where boxing has survived for the last few decades, most of the night's ‘action’ was met with more of a murmur. Hey, you get 51,000 people together, and even if they don't give a crap you're going to hear something.”