Manny Pacquiao Vs. Joshua Clottey: How Good Is Clottey, Anyway?

Manny Pacquiao Vs. Joshua Clottey: How Good Is Clottey, Anyway?

Everyone knows Manny Pacquiao. Not everyone knows Joshua Clottey, the man
Pacquiao is fighting Saturday.
Clottey (above left against Miguel Cotto,
photo by Howard Schatz) has a very good reputation, for the most part. Some
boxing writers consider him one of the 20 best boxers of today, and he's one of
the top men in the welterweight division, clearly. He caught some flack for his
showing at the end of the fight against Cotto, but there are a lot of people who
thought he got robbed in that bout. And it wasn't that long ago that there was a
highly viable theory that Clottey was underrated, the best fighter in the
division not to be recognized as one of the best.
Yet the more I look at
Clottey, the less convinced I am. I'd had that thought prior to Pacquiao trainer
Freddie Roach saying the same thing in the "Road to Dallas" documentary that
aired Saturday (I swear! Ask the people I hung out with Saturday night, away
from the television, when the documentary was airing). But that Roach said it
made me feel confident about it, too. I think Clottey has become
overrated.
This requires a bit of a preface, a disclaimer. I think Clottey's
a really good boxer. I think he's a dangerous fighter for Pacquiao to take on,
by virtue of his size and style. But when I look at his record and his
review the video, I see a fighter who's a full notch below the best of the
best.