Dwyer gave me a fact that sealed the deal for me, basically. Clottey only landed about 10 punches in the Pacquiao fight, six of them were uppercuts. Pac's eye was pretty swelled Case closed imo.
no but had plenty of trouble with them , police were on top of us all day in the pubs we all ended up getting escorted to the ground and escorted after the game on a bus to the train station..(bus window got put through from one of our lads)..
I will never pick against Manny Pacquiao again for as long as I live. My predictions have got no credibility in my local any more, I've gone from "the guy who knows his boxing" to "the gobshite who pretends to know about boxing" because of that little *******.
Clottey has fast hands and a good jab, left hook and a decent right. He lacks power though. He did cause Manny concern all four times he punched but compared to 1,000 or something punches, that's not impressive. Margo can clearly punch a bit, he throws and throws, can pressure opponents in ways they don't expect, and those left hooks to the body... But that all counts on him catching Manny. He lacks hand and foot speed, plus he's predictable. Most importantly, as Slip says, it's the right hand you need (thrown quick, straight and with expert timing ala Morales and Marquez) to hurt Manny. Margo hasn't outboxed a fast, slick guy ever - he's overwhelmed them in the past.
I think it's mostly just hype on 24/7. The footage of sparring is probably edited to show Pac looking crap. Roach loves to play thoe mind games too. Maybe part of it is true, but I think it's likely that it's been greatly exagerrated. Pacquiao against Clottey was far from great. In his last two fights, Pac has fought differently to how he fought against David Diaz and Oscar de la Hoya. Against Diaz and DLH, Pac was using the in and out movement a lot, getting in close and knifing his opponents up with his quick combos, then he'd get back out. Against Diaz he avoided pretty much everything Diaz threw. The head movement was great, as well as the footwork and he got out ofhe way of punches. Against Cotto and Clottey he fought differently. He stood in front of his opponents and tried to block the punches rather than get out of the way of them. He also looked slower than usual but maybe this was because he was throwing more power shots and putting more into his punches. Against Cotto at one point he was just laying on the ropes, letting Cotto throw shots to the body. He didn't need to do that ****. He needed to get the **** out the way, like he did against David Diaz. Clottey didn't throw a lot, but when he did, he had no trouble landing. I hope Pac fights more like he fought against Diaz. I'll go for a Pacquiao decision but Margarito is a big, tall dude with a super strong chin, and I don't believe that just because he was knocked out by Shane that his chin is now suspect or cracked or that hes not the fighter he once was. These days after just one KO or one loss, people say you're not the same fighter. Shane has serious power, and Margarito was still able to take a hell of a lot of punishment before he went down. Margarito throughout his whole career has taken a lot of punishment, and there might be a point in time where his chin get's permanently damaged, but no one can see that point. This isn't no ****in videogame where there's a little bar at the bottom of the screen showing how much health he has left. I can't see a crack on his chin that tells me his punch resistance is now gone. I can't see that **** and no one else can either. We'll see on fight night how much he can take. I've heard some people say that Margo is not the same fighter he once was because of Cotto. Bull****. You just can't see that type of ****. Margo didn't get knocked out by Shane because Cotto had damaged him earlier. He got knocked out because he was getting hit with clean power shots from a guy that has 39 KO's from 46 wins. Shane Mosley was putting everything into those punches and I'll be surprised if Pac can stop him.
Ero, I think Cotto was hurting Manny quite badly in those early rounds. He seemed to freeze a few times. He's a tough little ****er though, but it was worrying to see him do that. Can't see Margo being the one to beat him, but he needs to get back to moving and boxing. Then laying the hurt on when his opponent wears down.
Teddy Atlas was making a case for this, in Boxing News, on the strength of a couple of uppercuts that Clottey threw in his fight with Pacman. He reckons Pac is open to the uppercut, and Margarito throws a great uppercut and is basically too big for Pac. Now, we have sort of been here before, as Atlas was making a case for Clottey beating Pac, (in Boxing News too) - he was saying clottey is big etc etc but he still covered himself by saying he thought Pac would win. I never for a second thought Clottey had a chance, nor do I think for a second that margarito has a chance. This is all bull**** hype. Same as I dont care for the angle that 24/7 are pitching the storyline - i.e. that Pac might have distractions etc....these tried to infer that crap as well in the last 24/7 with the choreographed scene with Roach telling Pac that he wanted to go back to the Wildcard etc... The only worthwhile fight for Pac is versus Mayweather and vice versa - these well paid 'pundits' like Atlas et al. I listen to with a very open mind. Or.......... maybe I am just a cynic
Yeah I noticed that against Clottey too. It was concerning the way Clottey found it so easy to land also.
I don't know if Pacman can stop Margo. Mosely hit him with absolutely everything, and only got the KO deep deep deep in to the fight. Pac will have to contend with a guy who will keep on coming when hit, which of Pac's previous opponents did that? Not Oscar, not Clottey, nor Cotto, who began to back pedel when he got hurt and was in survival mode from round 4 onwards. Pac will hit Marg, no doubt, but Marg will get to Pac, Pac isn't that hard to hit provided you are not caught in the barrage of punches that come from crazy angels but we saw Cotto have success with the jab, timing Pac when he stopped throwing, and Clottey when he opened up was able to land. I do make this a dangerous fight for Pac, against a man striving hard for redemption and is working his backside off in the gym, you don't crush that level of determination that easily and I think Pac has his hands full come fight night. I am stretching out on one here and calling a late stoppage win for Margo, after weathering an early storm and meeting fire with fire down the stretch and putting in some relentless bone crushing work of his own.