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Pacquiao Vs Clottey - The Event (Part 1 of 3)

  • 06-03-2010 12:39pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭




    1week to go


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    Whis gnna win
    my moneys on clottley


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 44 aleybert


    Whis gnna win
    my moneys on clottley

    Mines on Pacman.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    aleybert wrote: »
    Mines on Pacman.

    Pacquio is highly overrated.
    Clottley has a good defense 60 percent of mayweather's.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,972 ✭✭✭joepenguin


    Have to lean towards pacman but id give him ALOT of credit if he beat Clottey convincingly. It would solidify his claim as #1 at the weight imo.

    Is it just me or is there very little hype for this considering the importance of the fight?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    joepenguin wrote: »
    Have to lean towards pacman but id give him ALOT of credit if he beat Clottey convincingly. It would solidify his claim as #1 at the weight imo.

    Is it just me or is there very little hype for this considering the importance of the fight?

    You've a good point mate imo for pacquio to be number one he had to beat PBF
    all roads in WW divisions leafs to him and specifically to be P4P king.

    There's little or no hype for this match because clottley not a bog name
    by fighting PAC he's gettin his biggest payday of 1.2m. Floyd got paid 1.2m 10yrs ago.
    Clottley fan base is also small. Guranteed PAC has fans but you need 2 goood fighters to make a good match.
    Money may vs mosley good example.


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 470 ✭✭Joe Musashi


    Pacquio is highly overrated.

    How so?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭Wild_Dogger


    You've a good point
    by fighting PAC he's gettin his biggest payday of 1.2m. Floyd got paid 1.2m 10yrs ago.

    Who cares about the money , and the split ????

    If you are a true boxing fan , then you would discard rather than chamion that statement .

    Oh how things have changed since http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBB212uMOLI

    when fans were disgusted at how shallow Taylor was .

    Its about legacy ....... plain and simple .
    Nobody gets remembered by the size of his purse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 475 ✭✭candlegrease


    Whis gnna win
    my moneys on clottley

    good luck with that....mismatch IMO


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,629 ✭✭✭magma69


    Whis gnna win
    my moneys on clottley
    Bold statement. I'd back a few squids on Clottey to win then if I was you because Pac is heavy favourite.

    Can only see this going one way myself. Clottey is much bigger than Pac but style wise suits him down to the ground. I think he will be in his shell for most of the night. Surviving more than fighting. If he does open up a lot late in the fight Pac will knock him out.

    :pac: by very wide UD is my decision.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    How so?

    PAC fights coz oftjebelts

    he fough hatton who was a shell of his former self barely Had no defense. Threw wild punches
    he fought cotto who wasnthimself after he's first loss.
    Mayweather fights with those who have marketing power. Eg Juan Manuel marquez

    when PAC fought golden boy, Oscar wasn't in no shape to fight hewas physically drained he barely had no weight mentally he was exhausted.

    PAC is highly overrated, has good punches but that's it


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭colly10


    PAC fights coz oftjebelts

    he fough hatton who was a shell of his former self barely Had no defense. Threw wild punches
    he fought cotto who wasnthimself after he's first loss.
    Mayweather fights with those who have marketing power. Eg Juan Manuel marquez

    when PAC fought golden boy, Oscar wasn't in no shape to fight hewas physically drained he barely had no weight mentally he was exhausted.

    PAC is highly overrated, has good punches but that's it

    Ye everyones great before they fight pacquaio and crap once they've fought him. Will you admit your wrong if pacquaio destroys clottey next week or will people just talk down clottey too? My guess is that you will still be calling him massively overrated


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭colly10


    For anyone who wants it the pacquaio v clottey road to dallas from last night is here -

    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T4QPTD8Z


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 470 ✭✭Joe Musashi


    magma69 wrote: »
    Bold statement. I'd back a few squids on Clottey to win then if I was you because Pac is heavy favourite.

    Can only see this going one way myself. Clottey is much bigger than Pac but style wise suits him down to the ground. I think he will be in his shell for most of the night. Surviving more than fighting. If he does open up a lot late in the fight Pac will knock him out.

    :pac: by very wide UD is my decision.

    I agree with that.

    I think Pacquiao wins, probably by decision. The main reason being his footspeed and darting movement. Clottey uses his high guard, lets you punch and tries to come back after you've finished throwing. With Pacquiao's speed and movement he won't be there to be hit like others were. Clottey is very strong and tough though, so I can see it going the distance. I don't expect Clottey to open up too much. Clottey's workrate isn't very high either.

    It all points towards a wide Pacquiao victory I think. :cool:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭Wild_Dogger


    Clottey represents very good value for the punter (9/2)

    This is a 60/40 match-up in my opinion .... favouring Pac.

    The odds represent a 85/15 match-up ..... due to the weight of money expected to be placed on Pacman .

    By fight night , I expect to get 11/2 on Clottey .....
    I'll be having a score on this .

    Clottey is under rated , in my opinion anyway .
    He hasnt got a TV company backing his name ,
    He hasnt got a big name camp to bring him publicity ,
    He hasnt got good English , and has little in the way of personality ......
    None of this helps him in the marketing of his name

    However , that all means nothing when they get into the ring . Does not affect performance of Clottey withion the ropes.

    Clottey is in fantastic shape at the moment , and wastes no time in self promotion .
    Pac on the other hand is constantly at the forefront of interviews , and public appearances at the moment ( and so too is Roach) .

    I have my own reservations about the ability of freddie Roach at the moment .
    Despite being a massive fan of FR , I'm afraid he's just not physically capable of training a fighter with the speed of pacman .
    Recent footage shows Freddie being almost stationary in 1-to1 training , and having the mitts knocked out of his hands etc.

    I have also shown concern over the years about Pac's lifestyle away from the gym .
    And now , Pac calls the shots ..... he does what he wants, whenever he wants , if he wants .
    If he is over-looking Clottey as an easy fight , then he will be in for a big surprise come fight night .


    However , should this fight go the distance , the judges will award the fight to Pacman , no matter what .
    In the interest of boxing , Pac and Mayweather need to be winners in their respective match ups .

    Maybe it's just cynical me , but judging is corrupt in a big way in Pro boxing .
    And with such massive amounts of money anticipated for a pac -mayweather fight , no judge can get in the way of this occuring .
    The judges will be very aware of this , and I have no doubt thier careers depend on it too .
    They must tow the line


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,549 ✭✭✭✭cowzerp


    i think its a good honest match up and look forward to it..

    pac will win but not easy..

    Rush Boxing club and Rush Martial Arts head coach.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,017 ✭✭✭colly10


    Clottey is under rated , in my opinion anyway .
    He hasnt got a TV company backing his name ,
    He hasnt got a big name camp to bring him publicity ,
    He hasnt got good English , and has little in the way of personality ......
    None of this helps him in the marketing of his name

    True, he doesn't get the credit he deserves, I felt he bet cotto and he is a great fighter
    Clottey is in fantastic shape at the moment , and wastes no time in self promotion .
    Pac on the other hand is constantly at the forefront of interviews , and public appearances at the moment ( and so too is Roach) .

    I have also shown concern over the years about Pac's lifestyle away from the gym .

    I think this has been the case since before the De La Hoya fight, it is yet to cause him any trouble, if anything he's better and stronger than he ever was. Sure did ye not go off to sing after the Cotto fight, thought he was also involved in a film around the time. All that matters is that he's putting in the training which he seems to be
    However , should this fight go the distance , the judges will award the fight to Pacman , no matter what .

    Possibly, I don't see clottey winning if the fight goes the distance anyway though, he doesn't have the speed or talent of pacquaio so I can't see him winning enough rounds


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 619 ✭✭✭sweetswing


    Clottey represents very good value for the punter (9/2)

    This is a 60/40 match-up in my opinion .... favouring Pac.

    The odds represent a 85/15 match-up ..... due to the weight of money expected to be placed on Pacman .

    By fight night , I expect to get 11/2 on Clottey .....
    I'll be having a score on this .

    Clottey is under rated , in my opinion anyway .
    He hasnt got a TV company backing his name ,
    He hasnt got a big name camp to bring him publicity ,
    He hasnt got good English , and has little in the way of personality ......
    None of this helps him in the marketing of his name

    However , that all means nothing when they get into the ring . Does not affect performance of Clottey withion the ropes.

    Clottey is in fantastic shape at the moment , and wastes no time in self promotion .
    Pac on the other hand is constantly at the forefront of interviews , and public appearances at the moment ( and so too is Roach) .

    I have my own reservations about the ability of freddie Roach at the moment .
    Despite being a massive fan of FR , I'm afraid he's just not physically capable of training a fighter with the speed of pacman .
    Recent footage shows Freddie being almost stationary in 1-to1 training , and having the mitts knocked out of his hands etc.

    I have also shown concern over the years about Pac's lifestyle away from the gym .
    And now , Pac calls the shots ..... he does what he wants, whenever he wants , if he wants .
    If he is over-looking Clottey as an easy fight , then he will be in for a big surprise come fight night .


    However , should this fight go the distance , the judges will award the fight to Pacman , no matter what .
    In the interest of boxing , Pac and Mayweather need to be winners in their respective match ups .

    Maybe it's just cynical me , but judging is corrupt in a big way in Pro boxing .
    And with such massive amounts of money anticipated for a pac -mayweather fight , no judge can get in the way of this occuring .
    The judges will be very aware of this , and I have no doubt thier careers depend on it too .
    They must tow the line
    very good post .
    100 percent agree with your part on judgeing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,625 ✭✭✭✭Johner


    Boooourns wrote: »
    What problems?


    First of all his trainer was denied clearance to join him, then the Pacquiao camp poached his chief sparring partner who happens to have worked with him many times before and therefore knows Clottey's habits very well. If that wasn't bad enough the gym he's been training in is far from suitable for a fighter of his level and apparently doesn't even have running water. He's basically had to train himself and I think Bob Arum has a lot to answer for.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,625 ✭✭✭✭Johner


    Really good read about Clottey's situation,

    Joshua Clottey arrives at Contenders Gym in Fort Lauderdale for the second consecutive afternoon. His black eyes cast around the place, February clouds rolling through the glass doors behind him. A boxer's camp before a big fight normally has a romance about it: Muhammad Ali holding court in Deer Lake; Lennox Lewis running through snow in the Poconos; Oscar De La Hoya chopping wood in Big Bear. But there's no romance at Contenders. There isn't even a working shower. It's a single-ring gym at a community athletic complex named Carter Park, marked by only a small blue plaque that says Activity Room. Two local fighters shadowbox nearby in board shorts and running shoes; one is wearing a Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles T-shirt. This is not what the dream is supposed to look like.

    Clottey thought the same thing yesterday, when he left after his first day here -- sweated up and without a shower -- determined to find somewhere else to hold his camp. But there was nowhere else to go, and Clottey had no one to help him get there. On his long list of things to worry about these days, hot water is close to the bottom. And so here he is, back once again, ducking into an adjacent office to get his hands wrapped. Lenny De Jesus, a 64-year-old New Yorker, part-time locksmith and longtime boxing satellite -- "I'm kind of a hidden guy," he says -- pulls out the wraps, yellow and white, and spools them around Clottey's hands. The two men know each other from John's Gym in the Bronx, a New York City joint close to where Clottey keeps a cheap apartment. De Jesus is watched by two of Clottey's rotund friends from his native Ghana: Bruce, who will do the pad work, and Kwaku, who will drive and make dinner. The Ghanaians are a silent, mysterious duo. "I think they might be family," De Jesus says with a shrug. While most fighters arrive at training camp with a full entourage, these are the three men who will make up Clottey's corner. They have only five weeks to find matching shirts, and to prepare him for the fight of his life.
    Clottey's known for his toughness. In a narrow 2006 loss to Antonio Margarito, he fought the last eight rounds with a busted tendon in his hand.

    "He just has to go in there and throw punches," De Jesus says. "What else are you going to do against that guy?"

    That guy is Manny Pacquiao, pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world -- "Best I've ever seen," says legendary promoter Bob Arum -- a champion in seven weight classes; dismantler of De La Hoya, Erik Morales and Ricky Hatton; future congressman in the Philippines; and strong enough for Floyd Mayweather Jr. to suggest that he must be on something normally given to horses. That accusation allowed Mayweather to duck Pacquiao in a fight many predicted would have been the biggest pay-per-view event in boxing history.

    Instead, Joshua Clottey became Mayweather's doomed proxy, chosen to fight Pacquiao on March 13 in front of an expected 40,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium. Out of that 40,000, it's a good bet that only De Jesus, Bruce and Kwaku will be rooting for him. The other 39,997 will see Clottey for what he actually is: a hiccup, a substitute, a placeholder. Pacquiao-Mayweather would have been the sort of fight that girlfriends talk about, would have broken records and earned each fighter around $40 million. Jerry Jones had been told that Cowboys Stadium wasn't good enough to hold that bout. Now, instead of the best fighter in the world facing the second-best fighter in the world, here stands Joshua Clottey -- most admired, perhaps, for his ability to take a punch -- getting his hands wrapped by a part-time locksmith in an office with a single gold cup on an otherwise empty trophy shelf. He is the man nobody wants to see, except in the back of an ambulance.

    "I can't think about all that," the 32-year-old Clottey says, shaking his head. "Otherwise I don't sleep no more. Right now, I sleep very good."

    In a short-staffed camp, De Jesus has taken on the bulk of the worry. (At the moment, Bruce is more concerned about the workout's sound track; he takes out a compact disc and heads over to the stereo in the corner. Kwaku is thinking he might make chicken soup for dinner.) "I'll be honest with you," De Jesus says after he's finished the wraps. "Our first job will be getting this kid up those three steps and into the ring."

    Most trainers set bigger goals for their fighters than on-time delivery, but De Jesus has been around long enough -- having worked Pacquiao's corner as a cut man many years ago -- to know how badly the odds have been stacked against his fighter. It's just that everyone in a challenger's camp usually does a better job of ignoring the odds, often by invoking the fat ghost of Buster Douglas. This time, though, nobody bothers pretending, except Arum, whose Top Rank stable happens to include Pacquiao and Clottey. "I really believe this is the better fight," he says, trying to banish thoughts of what could have been. "Joshua won't run." That's probably true, but only because Clottey has nobody to run to. Arum has left him largely to his own devices, not wanting to see his greatest asset, Pacquiao, devalued by a shock loss to some African. Clottey's current manager, a self-described "businessman from Jersey" named Vinny Scolpino, whom Clottey threatened to drop last year after a public contract dispute and money woes, isn't exactly boxing's most influential power broker either. And most important: Godwin Kotey, the Ghanaian trainer who helped start Clottey on his way to 35 wins, has been denied his U.S. visa. (Clottey flew to Ghana in January to help the trainer negotiate with the U.S. embassy, but was unsuccessful.) All of which has left Clottey in this broken-down Fort Lauderdale gym with De Jesus, one man substituting for Floyd Mayweather and the other for an entire machine. "I guess I'm it," De Jesus says with his hands in the air.

    Just this February morning there were reports that Pacquiao has already sparred more than 24 rounds at the famed Wild Card gym in Hollywood, Calif., against Abdullai Amidu, a Ghanaian who has boxed with Clottey since they were kids. (Clottey is genuinely saddened and bewildered by the idea of a friend's possibly selling his secrets. "I don't know why he is doing that," he says.) After Clottey made the drive up yesterday from his little rented house in a very different Hollywood to this gym with a busted shower, he banged out just three rounds against Damian "Devo" Frias, a Cuban welterweight whose name appears in the smallest of type on a poster in the gym, alongside some guy named Joey "Twinkle Fingers" Hernandez.

    Clottey will spar with Frias again today, this time for six rounds. He begins his warmup by jumping rope, a little toy plastic one he found draped over one of the turnbuckles. He stares at his reflection in a wide mirror, then pulls on his heavy black gloves and headgear. He throws light jabs at a speed bag, loosening his shoulders. He glances up and sees Mayweather staring back at him from a poster ("Witness the Speed of Light"), and quickly returns his gaze to the mirror. Bruce finally gets the music going, and Ghanaian electro- pop fills the room, an unlikely combination of African beats and Auto-Tune. One of the most upbeat songs, by the duo Ruff-N-Smooth, will be Clottey's walk-in music in Dallas. The song is called "Swagger"; the opening lyrics rhyme "banana" with "Ghana." Clottey can't help dancing, admiring himself in the mirror, his broad, smooth face breaking out in a smile. He looks blissfully unaware. "I love this song," he says. "Make me feel good. And when you dance, you don't know what is going on. You don't think. You just do." He shimmies some more before he furrows his brow and drops his hands. The music has stopped doing its job. "Swagger," he says. "I do not know what this word means."

    "Joshua is just a lovely boy," Arum says from Las Vegas. Arum has been a boxing promoter for 200 years. When the fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather fell apart, he considered a number of substitutes before finally settling on Clottey. His thinking: Like Pacquiao, the Ghanaian has a decent record (35-3 with 20 KOs), represents limited one-punch risk and wouldn't be a pain in the ass. "The antithesis of Floyd Mayweather Jr.," Arum says.
    Clottey flew to Ghana to retrieve his longtime trainer. He was unsuccesful. "I don't understand why nobody helps me," he says.

    Clottey first saw his name thrown into the mix for the Pacquiao fight online. He was in his native Accra, Ghana's port capital on western Africa's famed Gold Coast, when he read that Arum had floated him as a possible replacement. "You're joking," Clottey remembers thinking. Clottey called Scolpino to find out if there was any truth to the story, and Scolpino got in touch with Arum. "When I told Vinny we were ready to move," Arum says with a laugh, "he told me he'd collapsed in his chair." Clottey then asked Scolpino to set up camp somewhere warm and close to a beach, because running on the beaches of Accra had always brought him good luck, and he needed all the good luck he could get. Scolpino knew the guys who run Contenders, and just five weeks before the fight, Clottey was on a plane to Florida. "A gym is a gym, you know?" Scolpino says.

    The businessman from Jersey did take a harder look at the cash, though. Never mind his humble surroundings: Clottey is guaranteed his biggest payday, $1.25 million, and will be given a share of PPV revenues for the first time in his 15-year pro career. Depending on how well the fight sells, he could gross more than $3 million -- a life-changing amount of money, even after the majority of it gets stripped away by boxing's inevitable pilot fish. (Damian Frias, for starters, has been demanding $1,000 a week to play make-believe Pacquiao.) "I don't really want to talk about money," Clottey says. "But this is huge for me. I come from very, very poor background. My father don't have nothing except two sons. We both become fighters. My brother, he can't fight anymore, so it's up to me. I have to take care of a lot of people. If I'm walking in Accra, I'm in trouble, because everybody needs money there. But now my family is going to be very, very good. We are going to lack nothing. I will have my house, and I will have my cars. And if I win this fight ... "

    This is the first time Clottey has allowed himself to talk about the fight. After Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, predicted that his fighter will win by knockout, the Ghanaian waved away the thought like heat. ("I give my respect to his feelings," Clottey says. "That's his right to say anything.") But now, despite the happy music filling the room and despite his staring only in the mirror, Clottey has been pushed into a corner, forced to think about what's coming. Maybe, deep down, he believes he can win. Maybe he'll get lucky. Maybe Pacquiao will take him too lightly, and Clottey will see an opening and land a miracle punch that will change the course of two men's futures. Maybe he can be the next Buster Douglas. Or, maybe ...

    "Maybe Pacquiao's as fast as everybody tell me," Clottey says. "Maybe he will knock me out. If he knock me out, then I will say to the whole world: 'If I'm telling you that I'm seeing a ghost in the ring, don't brush me off. It won't be a joke. If I tell you I'm seeing a ghost, see that ghost with me.' "

    He climbs through the ropes -- there's just one step at Contenders -- and into the ring. De Jesus grabs a bottle of water from a row of bottles and starts throwing handfuls of it into Clottey's face and onto his arms, like a priest. Neither man knows that it's the wrong bottle, and that the water has salt in it, a poor man's electrolytes. Clottey's eyes begin to sting and fill with tears. A buzzer sounds. He turns to face Frias, but he can't see a thing.

    The rest of the gym goes quiet except for those African beats. (The banana song is kind of catchy.) Everybody else, including the dude in the Roscoe's T-shirt, stops flailing at the heavy bags and takes a seat on the wooden benches that surround the ring. No matter what happens on March 13, Joshua Clottey has suddenly become someone worth watching. He's become famous for his proximity to fame, the boxer about to become only the 53rd man on the planet to know firsthand what it's like to be punched by Manny Pacquiao. "You can see on his face, he's in a dream," Arum says.
    Clottey is no pushover, but at Jerry Jones' press conference at Cowboys stadium, one fighter received most of the attention.

    They held a press conference at Cowboys Stadium in January. Clottey saw himself on that giant TV hanging from the roof, walked out of the tunnel in a cloud of smoke, and the Cowboys cheerleaders kicked their white boots into the air around him. It was a long way from Accra, a long way from his place in the Bronx. He looked like a man who'd been struck by lightning. Despite appearances, though, Clottey says he's always known this fight was in his future. It was less a dream and more an inevitability. "Never a doubt," he says. His optimism is surprising. What would have been Clottey's biggest fight, against Shane Mosley (Mayweather's May 1 opponent) last Dec. 26, was taken out from under him. (HBO execs reportedly didn't want to stage the fight so close to Christmas.) "It was devastating for him," Arum says. Now, just weeks later, Clottey's been given an even bigger chance on an even bigger stage. "I don't drink alcohol, no smoking, I don't gamble," he says. "Good things happen to good people." For him, there's no other explanation. And there's no need to worry about what comes next.

    Because good things happen to good people.

    He touches gloves with Frias. Like Pacquiao, the Cuban is a southpaw, but there the comparison ends. Clottey blinks the salt out of his eyes and shows his strength, easily pushing Frias around the ring. He has good power and he is big for a welterweight -- he could weigh as much as 160 pounds on fight night -- but he doesn't possess much flash or grace. He doesn't even bother moving his head; if he keeps it this still against Pacquiao, the Filipino might very well remove it, take it home and bury it in his backyard. Near the end of the third round, Clottey shouts and launches himself into Frias, his feet leaving the canvas and his fist crashing into the Cuban's headgear. That's enough of that. Halfway through the workout, Frias quits. He gestures to his right shoulder, saying it's hurt. "We'll find someone new for tomorrow," De Jesus says.

    Later, Bruce works the pads for Clottey, their rhythm broken by the rust, and after Clottey spends a round dancing to the music, the workout's over, a little over an hour after it began. He takes a swig of water, spits it into the air and catches it with the top of his head. He's looking forward to his shower.

    Except that it's still broken, even though Scolpino had promised it would be fixed. Clottey looks like he's been struck by lightning again. The gym rats point him across a long parking lot to Carter Park's pool, where there are working showers. Clottey shakes his head and walks across the asphalt, a strong breeze blowing out toward the water. He reappears a few minutes later in shorts and flip-flops. Everybody bundles into their rented white van, Kwaku trying to find his way back to the house in Hollywood. It's a small stucco bungalow with a palm tree out front and a pool out back. Kids play on the street. In a corner of the kitchen are crates of Gatorade -- the real deal, not salt dumped into water. It's a small, big thing. "I love drinking this," Clottey says. He takes a glass of it out to the pool, ice clinking, and lies back in a lounge chair. De Jesus leaves to work with another fighter for the rest of the afternoon; Kwaku gets to work on the chicken soup; Bruce decides to go for a swim. He takes off his shirt, revealing a big belly and a tattoo of a hand dunking a basketball that looks to have been drawn by a child. Bruce rubs it self-consciously and says his first words of the afternoon: "It's incomplete."

    Clottey waits for his soup on the lounger. The smell of it comes out from the kitchen window. Birds sing. Kicked back like this, under palm trees by the pool, he looks for the first time less like a contender and more like a champion. It's possible to look at him, here in the sun, and marvel at how far he has come, this man from Ghana who, for one night at least, will find himself at the center of boxing. Looking at him, it's hard not to want to believe what he believes. It's hard not to hope that good things really do happen to good people.

    And it's just as hard not to tell him to run.

    "Do you ever think -- "

    "No think," he says, and he closes his eyes.

    The wind picks up. It catches an old awning over the back of the house. The awning breaks off its mooring, falls across the patio door and knocks over a flowerpot sitting on a step. The flowerpot hits the concrete and shatters into pieces. Bruce lets out a little scream. Clottey doesn't even open his eyes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,430 ✭✭✭megadodge


    I'm really surprised at the way most are writing off Clottey's chances here. This guy is a seriously tough, hard-to-beat fighter.

    He has an excellent chin, good defence, reasonably fast hands and is physically big and very strong. And most importantly he's a confident fighter. He doesn't get intimidated.

    The one area which has haunted him in the past (especially vs Cotto) is his workrate, or rather, lack of one. He simply doesn't throw enough punches. Pacman on the other hand throw loads of extremely fast, hard combinations. I think that is where the fight will be won or lost. Pacman will throw and land more, but I doubt he will ever have Clottey in trouble. If he stops Clottey, it would be an absolutely huge result in my eyes.

    I expect a hard bout resulting in a close but fair UD for Pacman.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,696 ✭✭✭mark renton


    i like manny being a nice guy but ffs bring back Naz!!

    i miss a good show at the press conference

    http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,13273_6015196,00.html


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 348 ✭✭bret69


    Does anyone have an approx time for this fight?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57,368 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    bret69 wrote: »
    Does anyone have an approx time for this fight?

    Dallas is two hrs ahead of Las Vegas and six hours behind us, so generally a big fight from Vegas starts at 0430 hrs here in Ireland. I am guessing that this bout will be on a wee bit earlier than 0430 hrs. Say 0300hrs


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 348 ✭✭bret69


    walshb wrote: »
    Dallas is two hrs ahead of Las Vegas and six hours behind us, so generally a big fight from Vegas starts at 0430 hrs here in Ireland. I am guessing that this bout will be on a wee bit earlier than 0430 hrs. Say 0300hrs

    Cool, cheers!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 129 ✭✭deisedelight


    hi guys
    i,m a previous member of the boxing forum "mikethemouth" but have not posted since boards was hacked because i could not access my previous email address which was registered with boards. walshb will be able to confirm my authenticty i hope.

    anyway i have a request regarding the pacman v clottey fight
    i have no access to sky for this fight and want to see thw whole event including the undercard for johns fight and soto v diaz.

    Is there anyone in the boxing community on boards here that would be willing to make a torrent of the fight night or a recording of the fight night.
    Wierd request i know but feedback would be greatly appreciated by a genuine boxing fan. thanks all

    p.s sorry walshb if i,m goin off topic on the thread but because i,m a "new"user i can not create my own thread.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭digme


    hi guys
    i,m a previous member of the boxing forum "mikethemouth" but have not posted since boards was hacked because i could not access my previous email address which was registered with boards. walshb will be able to confirm my authenticty i hope.

    anyway i have a request regarding the pacman v clottey fight
    i have no access to sky for this fight and want to see thw whole event including the undercard for johns fight and soto v diaz.

    Is there anyone in the boxing community on boards here that would be willing to make a torrent of the fight night or a recording of the fight night.
    Wierd request i know but feedback would be greatly appreciated by a genuine boxing fan. thanks all

    p.s sorry walshb if i,m goin off topic on the thread but because i,m a "new"user i can not create my own thread.
    I'll do it for you.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,718 ✭✭✭✭JonathanAnon


    walshb wrote: »
    Dallas is two hrs ahead of Las Vegas and six hours behind us, so generally a big fight from Vegas starts at 0430 hrs here in Ireland. I am guessing that this bout will be on a wee bit earlier than 0430 hrs. Say 0300hrs

    Jaysus are you serious... feck just looked up Ladbrokes again and they have changed the time from 02:00 to 03:30.... Think that might knock it on the head for me. Pacquiao at 1/8 on Ladbrokes lads, so I think they dont value Clottey as much as you guys do.. hmmm 3 quid left in the account might just fire it on Clottey at 9/2

    Dont think there's any way that he can beat pacquiao though. Handspeed to win I think.

    ps. I see duddy is fighting at 00:30, wonder if there is a stream for that. Might keep me awake for the other fight.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 129 ✭✭deisedelight


    digme wrote: »
    I'll do it for you.

    sorry digme ... can you make a torrent available ?
    joepenguin is also in the same predicament as myself so if you could do this you would be doin us a great favour.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭digme


    You want to dl it yourself so is it?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 129 ✭✭deisedelight


    digme wrote: »
    You want to dl it yourself so is it?

    sorry digme ... i dont even know what dl is. all i usually do it just download the torrent. would it be possible for you create the torrent. whats dl?
    excuse my ignorance


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,213 ✭✭✭PrettyBoy


    Is the fight going to be on Sky Sports or is it pay per view?
    sorry digme ... i dont even know what dl is. all i usually do it just download the torrent. would it be possible for you create the torrent. whats dl?
    excuse my ignorance

    dl = download :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,872 ✭✭✭strobe


    It's on Sky Sports 1 PB.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 129 ✭✭deisedelight


    hahaha sorry guys ...too many nights on the beer is frying those brain cells.

    prettyboy - its not on PPV, on normal sky sports. coverage starts at 2am i think

    hopefully sky will show johns fight and diaz v sotto as well.....they should do cause i looked up the hbo top rank tv schedule and its says they will have those fights covered on tv and sky gets the hbo satilette feed.

    cant wait to see john fight in front of a huge crowd even though hes done the garden etc i think this will be special guys

    digme - yeh all i want to do is download so if you create an torrent with pacman v clottey, and undercard i would be hugely appreciate it. i think i can speak for joe penguin in this respect too and i,m sure we have other guys here on the forum that would really apprciate this.

    cheers guys


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 156 ✭✭fasterkayote


    As for me Pacman is the best boxer there is in this lifetime. Hed proven and downed so many great boxers and garnered titles no man had ever achieved. I bet even if pacman KOs clottey mosley and mayweather thered still be doubters here..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,787 ✭✭✭Jayob10


    I've always thought of Manny as the far smaller man in his recent fights since hes moved up. And then when you see him in the weigh ins especially against Hatton and Cotto, you realise my god Manny is almost the same size. (granted Oscar was a bigger man but he looked weak).

    For the first time I was taken aback by the size difference, Clottey looks the bigger man by some distance and reports that he may come in at 160 tonight won't be too far out id imagine. Seeing them standing aside each other at the weigh in brought that feeling home.

    They do say speed kills, but Clottey can only be hurt to the body tonight as he has a high guard. I get a bad feeling about this fight, I really wanna see Manny and PBF fight but just think there may be a spanner in the works. I just have a gut feeling.

    I'm going out on a limb on this one, Clottey to stop Manny in the early to middle rounds.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57,368 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    Duddy needs oiling. He is very plodding and stiff and lacking speed and sharpness


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,480 ✭✭✭Devastator


    Manny in the 9th 12/1 :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭Wild_Dogger


    good streams lads


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,972 ✭✭✭joepenguin


    walshb wrote: »
    Duddy needs oiling. He is very plodding and stiff and lacking speed and sharpness

    Defo lacked sharpness. Footwork a little slow and stayed in Medinas jab range at all times with little to no head movement. Think he treated this like the howe fight where he tried to box for the duration of the fight and not take risks.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,972 ✭✭✭joepenguin


    screen keeps goin grey on streams :mad: does it on youtube the odd time as well. maybe its the laptop im using? did a quick google and all that came up was possibly not enough ram? if anyone knows of a solution that would be great, if not no worries.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,718 ✭✭✭✭JonathanAnon


    joepenguin wrote: »
    screen keeps goin grey on streams :mad: does it on youtube the odd time as well. maybe its the laptop im using? did a quick google and all that came up was possibly not enough ram? if anyone knows of a solution that would be great, if not no worries.

    Steam is good for me Joe, and I'm on 3G... have you tried different Firefox, Google Chrome..

    Diaz looked in serious trouble there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    Im watchin the fight on my ipod and what seein is useless undercards I've Bern up since 2.am whenare they goin to fight.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57,368 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    Im watchin the fight on my ipod and what seein is useless undercards I've Bern up since 2.am whenare they goin to fight.

    In after this fight!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,972 ✭✭✭joepenguin


    Steam is good for me Joe, and I'm on 3G... have you tried different Firefox, Google Chrome..

    Diaz looked in serious trouble there.

    nah its this laptop. even when you leave boards on an closed tab for a period of time and go back the screen will just be grey. its a matter of the streams appearing as opposed to the quality which i hear for this on is quite good. none of them working now for me.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 57,368 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    Attendance is 50,994....that is very impressive. Floyd won't be too
    mouthy after hearing this.

    Diaz is not doing too well. Soto moving up
    in weight for this title fight


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭stellarartois


    How much ram have you? Whats your internet connection like?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,718 ✭✭✭✭JonathanAnon


    walshb wrote: »
    Diaz is not doing too well. Soto moving up
    in weight for this title fight

    he's trying hard but not getting through..
    I dunno, 50k in the audience, why would you bother going to it.. you would see nothing at all.. at an average of 1000 dollars a ticket..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,718 ✭✭✭✭JonathanAnon


    joepenguin wrote: »
    nah its this laptop. even when you leave boards on an closed tab for a period of time and go back the screen will just be grey. its a matter of the streams appearing as opposed to the quality which i hear for this on is quite good. none of them working now for me.

    reboot, and tackle the Windows issues in the morning..
    reboot, and tackle the Windows issues in the morning..
    reboot, and tackle the Windows issues in the morning..
    reboot, and tackle the Windows issues in the morning..

    ;-)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 334 ✭✭stellarartois


    Did you see the place they showed on the HBO stream ages from the ring? 45 for a ticket 50 for parking and 10 to rent the binoculars!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭freeze4real


    Thanks


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