Pacquiao Outclasses Clottey To Retain Title

Manny Pacquiao (left) trying to penetrate Joshua Clottey

Manny Pacquiao showed again why he is the star.

With the biggest fight crowd in the US in 17 years cheering him on at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao dominated a strangely passive Joshua Clottey from the opening bell last Saturday night to retain his WBO welterweight title and cement his status as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter.

The fight wasn't close, and it never was in doubt. It was so one-sided that even those in the cheap seats among the crowd of 50,994 could tell without looking at the giant video screens over the ring that Pacquiao (51-3-2) was in total command.

One ringside judge gave Pacquiao every round, while the two others gave him all but one.

It wasn't as flashy as his knockout of Ricky Hatton or as savage as the beating he gave Oscar De La Hoya, but Pacquiao undoubtedly was in command the entire way against a fighter who kept his gloves up high in front of his face and chose to engage him only in spurts.

Clottey's strategy worked to keep him upright, but he never was competitive in the biggest fight of his career.

'He's a very tough opponent,' Pacquiao said. 'He was looking for a big shot.'

Pacquiao was supposed to have been fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. instead of Clottey, but the megafight fell apart over a dispute over blood testing. He took out any frustrations over losing the biggest fight of his career by beating up Clottey (35-4) on the biggest stage of his career.

It paid off handsomely for Pacquiao, who earned at least $12 million and built on the reputation he has gained as one of the greatest fighters of his time.

The tone of the fight was set early, with Pacquiao advancing against his taller opponent and throwing punches with both hands from all angles. It was the same style that gave him spectacular wins in his past three fights, and, though Clottey was the bigger fighter, he fought back only sparingly.

Clottey seemed content to hold his hands high in a peekaboo style through much of the early rounds, trying to pick off Pacquiao's punches and perhaps rally late. But he gave away round after round, despite landing clean punches on the rare occasions when he would throw a combination.

Pacquiao threw three times as many punches as Clottey, an average of 100 a round, and landed as many power shots as Clottey threw. Final punch stats showed Pacquiao landing 246 of 1,231 punches to 108 of 399 for Clottey.

—AP