Pacquiao confident speed can trump Clottey's size
Filipino ring king Manny Pacquiao said his lightning fast speed will
be enough to nullify Joshua Clottey's size advantage when the two meet
in Dallas on Saturday.
"My quickness will be the key, my speed," the seven-time world
champion told Reuters as he prepared for a public workout in front of a
throng of fans.
However, the WBO welterweight champion is not taking his Ghanaian
opponent lightly.
"You cannot underestimate Joshua Clottey," he said. "He's a good
fighter, and he's bigger than me, and I have to be very focused in the
fight."
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach acknowledges that former IBF title
holder Clottey, a natural welterweight, has a size advantage over the
champion, who began his career forty pounds lighter.
"But I don't think size wins fights," he said. "I think skill does.
He may be a little stronger than Manny on the inside, he might hit a
little harder, but I think our speed will nullify that."
Roach said he has been watching footage of Clottey's fights, and has
identified a few key habits that he and his fighter intend to exploit.
"He'll wait for you to throw a combination and then, when you've
stopped, he'll throw back. So if you stand in front of him, you're an
idiot," he said. "We're not going to do that.
He's not going to be able to find us.
"Sometimes he uses his head," Roach said of Clottey, 35-3 (20 KOs),
whose first defeat came when he was disqualified for headbutts.
"If you fall into the pocket with him, his best punch is an uppercut
and his second best punch is a headbutt. So we're not going to go in
there. We're going to fight him at distance."
A crowd of several hundred watched Pacquiao's workout, a turnout that
a beaming Pacquiao, 50-3-2 (38 KOs), described as 'amazing'. DALLAS,
Reuters
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