Pacquiao beats Cotto beats Mosley beats Margarito beats Clottey beats Pacquiao

(Mods: please don't move this thread lol)

It's the vicious welterweight full circle. There's so much talent, skill, power, heart and determination at 147 with some outstanding fighters, but nobody’s immune to all styles, and boxing always come down to them. Pacquiao used his reflexes, mobility and fast accurate punching to chop the vulnerable, defensively flawed Cotto down. Cotto used the jab and the left hook on the inside to limit Mosley's movement and offensive arsenal. Mosley used hand speed, adaptability, combination punching and physical power to take Margarito apart. Margarito used pressure, reach advantage and punch output to overcome Clottey.

If you have problems seeing the full circle, meaning Clottey beating Pacquiao, a quick, slick southpaw, (re)watch the Zab Judah fight right now to see how Josh neutralizes hand speed and angles with solid, compact, all-round style, good defense and smart, physically strong offense. Clottey is not outstanding in any way, but (unlike Cotto), he’s quite good in all areas (except maybe punch output), and like many Ghanaian fighters, skills and physical abilities come together exceptionally. Many actually had Clottey beating Cotto and Margarito based on clean effective punching, and these HUGE WWs could not push Josh around or abuse him, whereas fighters naturally smaller like Judah and Corrales could not stop Clottey’s skilled physical force at all.

For the physical difference and some similarities, take a look at 2009’s Vic Darchinyan vs. Joseph Agbeko fight. Vic, an unusual, unpredictable but skilled (yep), powerful, accurate multi-angle southpaw boxer-puncher, who gave very good fighters a lot of troubles (Mijares inability to adapt) found himself vs. the combination of Ghanaian Abeko’s smart, skilled, adaptable style and BIG physical advantage. King Kong never let Vic’s power abuse him and adapted so naturally to the unusual style, offered very few openings and himself found a way (straight right) to get through to beat Darchinyan to the punch. Pac is quite different and on another level, I understand, but his style, speed and power could be neutralized like King Kong did vs. Vic or Josh did vs. Zab, Ghanaian fighters are so good at this. After that, Darchinyan and Judah could do little to avoid getting tagged constantly by very well timed, hard accurate shots.

Picking Pac on points might be logical choice on paper, but Clottey has the wrong style and the big physical advantage, something people seem to overlook. Josh is adapting well, hard to hit, has a granite chin, good athleticism, underrated technical abilities and exceptional combination punching to make Manny's life misrable. Pacquiao doesn’t have the reach to do it from the outside, in my view minor knee problems limited his mobility lately, and he definitely doesn’t have neither the overall defensive abilities and the physical strength to stop Josh coming in. At best, I can see a close/debated decision for Manny based on work rate and Top Rank judges, at worst, it could be a late ref/corner stoppage win for Josh if Pac can’t solve the puzzle, find the right spots and stop Clottey’s skilled physical force.

Pacquiao beat Cotto who beat Mosley who beat Margarito who beat Clottey, but Joshua Clottey beats Manny Pacquiao.