by Coach Tim Walker – We’ve all seen the results by now. The sensational Manny Pacquiao did to Joshua Clottey what I didn’t imagine was possible. He didn’t knock him out in stellar fashion like he did Ricky Hatton. He didn’t make him quit like he did Oscar De La Hoya. He didn’t even beat him till he couldn’t take anymore like he did against Miguel Cotto. Not at all. What he did to Clottey was far worse in my opinion. He made Clottey do…nothing.
On the biggest night in boxing thus far this year in front of 50,000 plus boxing fans, or should I say Manny fans, Joshua danced his way into the illustrious state of the art Dallas Cowboys stadium. Unfortunately his dancing was about as much action as we got to see from him. He was physically bigger, physically stronger and in prime shape but that wasn’t enough for him to even win a single round against the man known universally as the best or one of the two best boxers in game.
I picked Clottey to win. It wasn’t an easy pick and I got hundreds of emails asking me how on earth I could pick Clottey. Rest assured I went back and forth analyzing as many details as I could. Ultimately my pick was predicated on two points: Joshua’s physical size (coupled with the in the trench battles he’s had in the past) and an understanding on his part of how large a stage he was on. Maybe he understood how large the stage was but he never used his size to his advantage.
Prior to the fight Freddie Roach stated that Clottey wouldn’t be a problem for Pacquiao. He was right. For 12 rounds he took the fight to the man from Ghana. Every time there was a round that I was close to handing to Clottey, and there were only two, Manny swiped it away from him. Simply stated, the fighter that showed up didn’t fight the way I thought he would. The fighter that showed didn’t deserve to win. I really like Joshua but you can’t win if you don’t punch.
I am currently 0-4 in recent picks against Manny. In reality I’m not really 0-4 because I have picked him to win in other fights. I did however get all the undercard right…LOL. It yields the question, “Would I pick against Manny again?” The short answer, sure I would. It’s not because I dislike Manny because I don’t. He’s a tremendous talent and I have a lot of respect for his fight game but when I evaluate matches I consider a variety of factors including history of the fighters and potentialities. Most times I’m right and other times I’m way wrong.
At the end of the day, though I am a former boxer, I am a writer. We expound on stories in hopes of keeping the banter going. I get it wrong sometimes but I hope that even in those times when I’m wrong that the effort I put forth endears us all to the sport just a little bit more.
Coach Tim Walker is a contributing writer for Eastsideboxing.com and his own personal blog at boxing4life.blogspot.com welcomes comments. To suggest fighters for Monthly Stud and The Project please email tpwalker@hotmail.com. I welcome questions or comments.
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Undercard action:
John Duddy SD 10 Michael Medina
Alfonso Gomez RTD 5 Jose Luis Castillo
Humberto Soto UD 12 David Diaz
Michael Farenas NC 2 Joe Morales
Eden Sonsona TKO 8 Mauricio Pastrana
Salvador Sanchez KO 6 Jaime Villa
Robert Marroquin KO 2 Samuel Sanchez
Rodrigo Garcia TKO 2 Calvin Pitts
Arthur Trevino MD 4 Isaac Hidalgo