DALLAS, Texas, March 13, 2010 (AFP) – Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao easily defeated Joshua Clottey by unanimous 12-round decision to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title Saturday (Sunday in the Philippines) at Cowboys Stadium.
Pacquiao, who was recently named Fighter of the Decade, ran his win streak to 12 fights with a dominating performance.
Joshua Clottey proved to be indestructible but that did not prevent Manny Pacquiao from pulling off a unanimous victory.
With 50,994 fans — the biggest fight crowd in the US in 17 years — cheering him on at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao made sure the result was never in doubt.
Pacquiao was in command the entire way against Clottey, who kept his gloves up high in front of his face, rarely risking a flurry.
The Ghanaian’s strategy got him to the final bell, but he was never competitive in the biggest fight of his career.
The three judges — Levi Martinez, Nelson Vazquez and Duane Ford — all scored in favor of the seven-time world division champion as Pacquiao. Two judges scored the fight 119-109, the other 120-108. The Associated Press gave every round to the Filipino.
Pacquiao advanced against his taller opponent and threw punches with both hands from all angles, the same style that gave him spectacular wins in his past three fights and, though Clottey was clearly the bigger fighter, he rarely sought to use his reach advantage.
Clottey, showing that he can take on Pacquiao’s bombs, had a few great moments in the 12-round slugfest where he managed to sneak in a number of right straight, 1-2 combinations and uppercuts but he proved to be no match against Pacquiao’s punching power and bull-like stamina.
Pacquiao, who slowly made Clottey in to a human punching bag, showed his frustration in the fourth round when he smacked Clottey’s gloves as if challenging him to go toe-to-toe.
Clottey’s corner was urging him late in the fight to take some risks, but even in the final round when he needed a knockout to win, the Ghanaian only sparingly dropped his guard.
He briefly followed De Jesus’ advice and has done something offensively in the sixth to eight rounds where he managed to push the champion towards the ropes and opening a cut under Pacquiao’s right eye.
Before the start of the 11th round, the trainer again implored: “This is the 11th round. I know you have the power to knock him, but take a chance!”
But Pacquiao, who received an accidental low blow in the eighth, survived Clottey’s counter attacks and unleashed a barrage of punches towards the challenger’s body and head.
The close to 51,000 fans chanted “Manny! Manny!” in every round as if boosting Pacquiao’s confidence in order to knock out Clottey, who has yet to suffer a KO loss in his past 38 fights.
It was the 12th straight win for Pacquiao and the seventh time that his fight went the distance. He now holds a 5-1-1 (win-loss-draw) record in his fights that went the full 12 rounds.
It was also Pacquiao’s first fight outside Las Vegas since his 2007 World Boxing Council (WBC) international super featherweight title fight against Jorge Solis at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Clottey, who was a former International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title holder, lost his second straight fight and in his third attempt to win the WBO’s 147-lb. strap. He beat Zab Judah in Aug. 2, 2008.
