By Mike Cassell, Philadelphia Boxing Report – As I stood behind the curtain of the press area in Atlantic City’s historic Boardwalk hall back in 2006, welterweight Joshua Clottey looked absolutely sick following his fight with Antonio Margarito. I noticed his left hand was grossly swollen. “That must really sting” I said to Clottey. He smiled widely; “This?” pointing to visibly damaged hand “This is nothing. What really hurts is that, I know I had him. I know I can beat him.”
His tremendous performance against Antonio Margarito was overshadowed back on December 12th 2006, when Miguel Cotto totally destroyed Carlos Quintana with a devastating body punch in the main event.. But Joshua Clottey 35 – 3 (20KO’s) made a big noise in the hearts and minds of boxing fans everywhere when he stood with a severely injured hand, and banged it out with the seemingly invincible Margarito, who nobody wanted to fight. Often underrated, but never disrespected, Clottey is a true warrior who never says die. Clottey was born in Accra Ghana, in a small village called Bochum. He is member of the Ga tribe. He shares his heritage with fighters like Ike Quartey, Azumah Nelson, Alfred Kotey and D.K. Poison.
The boxers there train on a dirt surfaces in vacant lots that are surrounded by dilapidated, windowless shanties. His rise was slow, but his destination was undeniable. Clottey finally got his day in the sun when he won the vacant IBF welterweight title against Zab Judah. Instead of taking a few easier fights, he went right on to face Miguel Cotto, who he definitely defeated, but was apart of another badly judged fight, in a year of terrible decisions. Although one judge had Clottey ahead 114-113, two judges saw the fight Cotto’s way, with one despicable judge scoring 116 – 111 for Cotto. Again, he was overshadowed by Cotto, but this time because of the heart of the declining warrior. Most watching the fight realized who Top Rank’s other star was.
What makes Clottey’s journey so salient is that he earned every bit of his success. He didn’t talk his way into a world title shot. While Floyd Mayweather Jr justified dodging Margarito and Cotto, Clottey simply stood up to be counted as one of the best welterweights in the world and truly fought them both, toe to toe. He quietly became one of the most rugged fighters in the world, without any prognostication or pandering. As once again, Floyd Mayweather Jr finds another ridiculous reason not to fight the best; Clottey will again get into the ring with one of the best fighters in sport of boxing.
Manny Pacquiao is without a doubt the most complete fighter in the world, and on March 13th in Texas, it will take every ounce of Clottey’s grit to compete with him, much less beat him, but if anybody has the will and determination to take on this monumental task, Clottey definelty does. He is naturally bigger and in his prime. This fight in all reality could be absolutely phenomenal and in many ways be a much more entertaining fight than Pacquiao, Mayweather could ever be. Where boxing has failed in the past, is promoting names, instead of great match ups. This one may seem like a back up bout at first glance, but when you dig a little deeper, it has more teeth and less mouth. In other words, both of these fine pugilists are to rumble. Keep in mind that Pacquiao has had real problems with fearless brawlers like Clottey in the past.
Couple that with the fact that neither Margarito or Cotto could hurt this man, it makes for a very interesting evening. After everything has been said, I think Bob Arum put it best.
“These guys aren’t businessmen, or worried about messing up their pretty faces. They are fighters. That’s what they do.”