Perfect fighter against the perfect fight
The March 13th bout between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey matches the perfect fighter against the man who needs the perfect fight. Michael Rosenthal of Ring Magazine published an excellent piece this week that is essentially a collection of brief interviews with Pacquiao’s sparring partners. In short, their assessment is “dangerous,” “smart,” “fast, “powerful,” and “the best.” Is he perfect?
Freddie Roach probably wouldn’t go that far simply because he can see flaws in a fighter that the mere mortals cannot. Okay fine, but Freddie is talking about the small pieces of carbon inside of a diamond and we’re talking about the gem itself–and a perfect one indeed.
From a boxing judge’s perspective, an assignment to score the perfect fighter is gut check time. Ask the Association of Boxing Commissions, the entity that certifies judges, about perfection and they will likely tell you that judges are unbiased and are trained to care less. The reality, however, is that such is not always true. The perfect fighter may receive the benefit of the doubt in close rounds. Ask Marvin Hagler. The Dalai Lama may not know who Tiger Woods is, but he undoubtedly is familiar with Pacquiao. The morale of the story being that no boxing judge on the planet can deny knowing who Manny is and the legend he has become.
So what does this mean for Joshua Clottey? It means that Plan A has to be to knock Manny out. Best of luck with that plan because Manny was last knocked out ten years and thirty pounds ago. Clottey’s knockout percentage is just over 50% for his career and only 20% since 2002. Plan A, therefore, is a wee bit ambitious.
Plan B, which in reality is probably Clottey’s Plan A, is to win rounds decisively. In other words, he must leave no doubt in the judges’ minds that he won the round. Such may not be as “ambitious” as Plan A above, but a very difficult task for the slower fighter who attacks and defends in straight lines. Pacquiao comes at his opponents at unpredictable angles and, according to the Rosenthal piece, he is sparring to bring the same shock and awe to Clottey that he brought to Miguel Cotto and others.
As stated above, closely contested rounds may be problematic; therefore, plan C may well kick in around round 8 if the two other fight strategies fail. This is to accept the fact that the fight cannot be won and to finish it standing up–a distinction that no Pacquiao opponent owns north of 130lbs. This may not be useful statistically; however, it may well set Clottey up for a few another money fight or two this year. After all, the loser of the Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Shane Mosley fight will need an option.
It is easy to dismiss Joshua’s chances to win and, frankly, there simply isn’t any evidence to suggest otherwise. Boxing has numerous Cinderella stories about fighters who win the when they are not supposed to. The right punch at the right time can change a fight, and so too can accidental head butts and intangibles. On March 13th Joshua Clottey will face the perfect fighter. To defeat him he will need to execute the perfect fight–and have some luck along the way.