by Lem Satterfield
Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

ARLINGTON, TEX — The end, for challenger, Joshua Clottey, may happen along the ropes or in the middle of the ring.
But either way, it will happen — before a screaming crowd of about 4,500 at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium on …

by Lem Satterfield
Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

ARLINGTON, TEX — The end, for challenger, Joshua Clottey, may happen along the ropes or in the middle of the ring.
But either way, it will happen — before a screaming crowd of about 4,500 at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium on …

by Lem Satterfield
Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

ARLINGTON, TEX — The end, for challenger, Joshua Clottey, may happen along the ropes or in the middle of the ring.
But either way, it will happen — before a screaming crowd of about 4,500 at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium on …

Klitschkos & Heavyweight Stranglehold on the world.
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Klitschkos & Heavyweight Stranglehold on the world.
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Klitschkos & Heavyweight Stranglehold on the world.
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Two Filipino fighters face tough battles on the eve of “The Event” featuring pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Ghana’s Joshu …
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Two Filipino fighters face tough battles on the eve of “The Event” featuring pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Ghana’s Joshu …
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During the USA Today round table for the May 1st, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Sugar Shane Mosley fight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was asked by USA Today Sports Business Columnist, Michael Hiestand, if Mixed Martial Arts would cut into boxing’s business.
Floyd answered back, by revealing that the Mayweather family were the …

During the USA Today round table for the May 1st, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Sugar Shane Mosley fight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was asked by USA Today Sports Business Columnist, Michael Hiestand, if Mixed Martial Arts would cut into boxing’s business.
Floyd answered back, by revealing that the Mayweather family were the …

During the USA Today round table for the May 1st, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Sugar Shane Mosley fight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was asked by USA Today Sports Business Columnist, Michael Hiestand, if Mixed Martial Arts would cut into boxing’s business.
Floyd answered back, by revealing that the Mayweather family were the …

“This is a harder fight than anyone thinks it is. Think of Winky Wright and you have the modern version of him in Clottey. And Clottey is big. I think [he] was born at 147 pounds. He’ll enter the ring at least 10, if not 15, pounds heavier. He’ll be around 160, maybe more, when he rehydrates. And you know, he might have the style to pull it off. He’s not just going to run in like [Ricky] Hatton did.”

Promoter Bob Arum has to walk a fine line. He knows Pacquiao is his cash cow and a Pacquiao win would benefit him more than a Clottey win, but he also needs the public to buy Clottey as having a chance in order to maximize pay-per-view sales.

“I tried both places [San Francisco and Los Angeles] and the people I was dealing with wanted to do it on my dime and wanted me to pay the cost of doing one of these fights, which made it economically not feasible,” Arum said. “But Jerry is paying me to come here and he will get his costs back. And the Yankees are giving me a guarantee and then they get their costs back, so it is economically feasible to do it in both places.”

Promoting Pacquiao-Clottey at Cowboys Stadium became a reality when Arum got together with Jones, who has landed several major events for his lavish facility, including last month’s NBA All-Star Game (which drew more than 100,0000) as well as a future Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four.

What’s more, aside from the difference in class, I think that the stylistic factors working to aid Clottey are far exceeded by the stylistic factors working to aid Pacquiao. In some ways, it’s hard to imagine a better match-up for Pacquiao than an opponent who comes straight forward and does nothing but stand there when you punch him. From what I can tell, that’s as sophisticated as Clottey’s plan is for this weekend. He asserted this week at news conferences that he would block Pacquiao’s punches. Well, no duh. I think Clottey will block a good many of Pacquiao’s punches. But Pacquiao won’t throw at a single punch at a time, the way Clottey does. Pacquiao will fire a combo that tries to penetrate Clottey’s gloves through the middle, then down low, then around the side — and then he’ll fire three more punches before he’s done with the combo. Some of that’s going to get through, and all of it will be harder and more dangerous than any volley he’s ever encountered. And by the time Clottey fires back, Pacquiao will already be gone, out of range.

By Brett Mauren
This Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao will put his streak of brilliance on the line in one of the world’s most remarkable buildings. Four months ago the Dallas Cowboys’ brand new billion dollar stadium was poised to hold the long awaited showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather, but it was …

When Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao 50-3-2 (38 KO’s) meets Joshua “The Grand Master” Clottey 35-3 (20 KO’s) at Cowboys Stadium in Texas on Saturday night, this great matchup will come down to one issue – whether or not Pac Man can break through the tough shell defense of the Grand Master. Though on paper this appears to be one of the toughest fights of Pacquiao’s career, if the Filipino superstar can overcome the one obstacle of Clottey’s defense he will make this fight look similar to his one-sided win over Oscar De La Hoya.

Some would argue that size will present the greatest determining factor, and for good reason. At When the 5’6½” Pacquiao fought the 5’10½” Oscar De La Hoya, this was a case of a great fighter fighting a great promoter. Oscar had seen better days, spent more time in the office than the ring, dropped too much weight to make the limit, and should not have been fighting a hungry world champion. In short, his height advantage meant nothing. The Oscar who fought Shane Mosley or Felix Trinidad might have at least had a chance.

Much was made about the size advantage of Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto prior to their bouts with Pacquiao, when in fact Hatton stood only one inch taller than Pacquiao, who actually possessed a two inch reach advantage over Hatton! Miguel Cotto stood only half an inch taller than Pacquiao with an identical reach. Clearly the topic of sized advantage was only smoke and mirrors to make these fights seem more impressive for the seven division champion. Against Clottey, however, Pacquiao faces a fighter with a one and a half to two inch height advantage and a three inch reach advantage.

<b>FRIDAY</b> <b>HERNAN MARQUEZ vs. RICHIE MEPRANUM</b><b>Rounds / weight class:</b> 12 rounds / junior bantamweights<b>Location:</b> Grapevine (near Dallas), Texas<b>Television:</b> Fox Sports Net/Fox Sports en Espanol<b>The backdrop:</b> Mexico’s popular “Tyson” Marquez (27-0, 20 knockouts) is an entertaining pressure fighter with heavy hands but the 21-year-old southpaw does not punch like his nickname …

<b>FRIDAY</b> <b>HERNAN MARQUEZ vs. RICHIE MEPRANUM</b><b>Rounds / weight class:</b> 12 rounds / junior bantamweights<b>Location:</b> Grapevine (near Dallas), Texas<b>Television:</b> Fox Sports Net/Fox Sports en Espanol<b>The backdrop:</b> Mexico’s popular “Tyson” Marquez (27-0, 20 knockouts) is an entertaining pressure fighter with heavy hands but the 21-year-old southpaw does not punch like his nickname …

<b>FRIDAY</b> <b>HERNAN MARQUEZ vs. RICHIE MEPRANUM</b><b>Rounds / weight class:</b> 12 rounds / junior bantamweights<b>Location:</b> Grapevine (near Dallas), Texas<b>Television:</b> Fox Sports Net/Fox Sports en Espanol<b>The backdrop:</b> Mexico’s popular “Tyson” Marquez (27-0, 20 knockouts) is an entertaining pressure fighter with heavy hands but the 21-year-old southpaw does not punch like his nickname …

By Brian Wilbur
Manny Pacquiao is the best boxer in the world, holding the pound for pound crown with an iron fist. He is an active, fighting champion, set to step in the ring again this Saturday just four months after dispatching of Miguel Cotto. Four months may seem …

It will be interesting to see how Pacquiao handles a big, strong welterweight who is athletic, rugged, can get dirty, and has never been hurt before.  If he steamrolls Clottey, I will be very surprised.

After a very exciting first third of the fight, look for a combination of Pacquiao's workrate and Clottey's tendency to grow passive when his opponent will not go away to take over.  My initial expectation was a 116 – 112 type of unanimous decision for Manny Pacquiao.

The magazine isn’t going to strip Pacquiao. Editor in Chief Nigel Collins is simply going to ask Team Pacquiao what weight class he plans to stay in after the Clottey fight. Roach has gone on record saying that Pacquiao is staying at 147 pounds because that’s where the big fights and the HUGE money’s at. If this is true and Pacquiao has no intention of dropping back down to 140 pounds, there’s no sense in allowing him to hold onto the junior welterweight title. It’s not fair to young guns like Tim Bradley, Devon Alexander and Amir Khan, who could be fighting for it.

So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on Saturday. Previously: why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters; how good is Clottey?; keys to the fight, parts I and II; the undercard. Next: the ultimate guide.
No use beating around the bush here. You know that scene near …

So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on Saturday. Previously: why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters; how good is Clottey?; keys to the fight, parts I and II; the undercard. Next: the ultimate guide.
No use beating around the bush here. You know that scene near …