Chin power

MANNY Pacquiao can pack a punch, which is evident in his high knockout rate, but Joshua Clottey, his challenger for this Top Rank’s “The Event” this Sunday, is confident that he isn’t that easy to put to sleep.

“I have a good chin; we (African fighters) take a lot of punches, but I have a good chin! I never expect myself to get in the ring to get knocked out, I never expect that, no,” said Clottey in a report at fightnews.com.

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Pacquiao, Boxing Writers Association of America’s Fighter of the Decade, has 38 knockouts in 50 career victories, which is a 69 percent knockout rate. Meanwhile, Joshua Clottey hasn’t been knocked out in his 39 fights, which dates back to 1995.

The 32-year-old Ghanaian only has three losses as a professional all from former world champions, Carlos Baldomir (DQ), Antonio Margarito (UD) and Miguel Cotto (SD).

Aside from his sturdy chin, Clottey will also be relying on his huge welterweight frame, his height and reach advantage.

“I am going to fight Manny Pacquiao and we’re going to see whose going to win and it’s going to be a tough fight for both of us. I will be stronger than him, because after the weigh-in I am going to eat and I am going to blow-up,” said Clottey.

Clottey has a two and a half height advantage over the 31-year-old Pacquiao, who is recorded as 5’6” and a half, and a massive three-inch reach advantage.

Pacquiao will stake his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown and his status as the world’s pound-for-pound No.1 against Clottey at the state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

On the other hand, David Diaz once again is rooting for his former foe as the winner of this Sunday’s contest.

“I said it since the Hatton fight that I am not going against Pacquiao anymore (laughing). I got Pacquiao in this fight,” said Diaz in a report posted at boxingscene.com.

Pacquiao stopped David Diaz in the ninth round of their World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight battle in 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Diaz, 33, will be seeing action also this Sunday against former world champion Humberto Soto for the vacant WBC lightweight crown in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Clottey war.