21.12.07 – By Ron Hansen: International Boxing Federation #6 ranked welterweight, Joshua Clottey (33-2, 20 KOs) defeated Shamone Alvarez (19-1, 11 KOs) by 12-round unanimous decision last night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Though the bout was thought to be an exciting matchup due to Alvarez’s unbeaten record, it turned out to be a mostly dull affair as Clottey fought at a mostly pedestrian pace in pounding out a decision over the weak-punching Alvarez. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 116-112, 118-110.
It was obvious in the first couple of minutes of the fight that Alvarez didn’t have what it takes to beat Clottey, which is perhaps why Clottey seemed to treat the fight almost like a casual sparring match. The victory was a particularly important one for Clottey, since it enables him to take on Kermit Cintron sometime in the future once his hands heal up.
Clottey was cautious in the first three rounds of the fight, treating Alvarez as if he were a knockout threat instead of the light-punching fighter that he is. However, once Clottey seemed to figure out that Alvarez had next to no power, he began hitting him regular with his trademark hooks and straight right hands. It was nothing like the normal Clottey that I’ve become used to seeing in which he throws a large number of punches every round until he burns himself out by the midway point in the fight, like he did against Antonio Margarito.
Perhaps this is the reason why Clottey was so economical with his punches, him wanting to prevent himself from fading in the later rounds. He certainly had no reason to exert himself because Alvarez had absolutely nothing on his punches all night long, and did little to make Clottey feel any sense of urgency in the fight.
The final punch stats were Clottey – 572 punches thrown, landing 182 for a 32% connect percentage, whereas Alvarez threw 867, landing only 116 for a 16% connect percentage.