MANNY Pacquiao, one of the most exciting fighters in the world, figured in a boring match the other day, but it wasn’t his fault according to two of Cebu’s prominent boxing personalities.
Pacquiao, whose last four fights ended in knockouts, labored for 12 rounds looking for a knockdown at the $1.2-billion Cowboys Stadium and in front of some 50,000 fans.
Cebu’s top promoters--Michael Aldeguer of ALA Promotions and Sammy Gello-ani of SGG Promotions--blamed Clottey’s failure to slug it out with Pacquiao for the lackluster match,
“Manny really fought a good fight. He was his typical self. It was Clottey’s fault since he only fought to survive,” Aldeguer told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview yesterday. “It turned into a boring fight because of Clottey.”
Instead of trading punches with the pound-for-pound king, Clottey had his hands over his head most of the time and only threw a few punches the whole fight.
“Manny had a good showing but Clottey wasn’t there to win. He was just protecting himself not to get knocked down. He didn’t throw punches,” said Gello-ani.
Aldeguer and Gello-ani believes that Clottey was already “defeated” even before he got to the ring because he didn’t even give enough effort to try to defeat the 31-year-old Gen. Santos native.
That after telling everybody that he’d shock the world and that Pacquiao would land in a hospital.
“Clottey had nothing to lose. I think Clottey wanted to let everybody know that he could take Manny to the distance, to make him look bad. He was there to take the paycheck and survive,” said the young ALA Promotions president.
Clottey, like Pacquiao, came from poverty. Yesterday, he received the biggest payday of his career with $1.5 million. Pacquiao had a hefty guaranteed purse of $12 million.
Now that Pacquiao has chalked up another win, both promoters said the best thing for Pacquaio right now is a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is set to face Shane Mosley on May 1.
A Mosley victory however, could scuttle that and Pacquiao could face Sugar Shane.
“The best for me is Mayweather, or who will win the Mayweather-Mosley fight. But I believe Mayweather will beat Mosley,” said Gello-ani.
“I would want to see Manny fight Mayweather Jr. but if Shane wins he should face Shane,” said Aldeguer.