Dull and boring fight

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

WE boxing aficionados saw the fight. We were all expecting a good battle. But it did not turn out that way. It was a dull and boring match. World pundits in boxing say it should not have been happened. Yes, nobody wants to disagree with them. The match lacked the ingredients of a good fight and the guy whom our very own Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao pummeled from bell-to-bell is the one to blame. Pacquiao did his best throwing and landing punches in bunches, purposely to finish his opponent, but the Ghanaian fighter who promised to seize the WBO welterweight crown from Pacquiao did not shock the world. All he did was keep himself in a shell by putting both arms in front of his face to stay out of Pacquiao’s onslaught. He played it safe and obviously his only plan was to finish the 12 rounds standing.

Millions of viewers were disappointed (including this writer) during those 12 rounds of boredom. Joshua Clottey did not put up a good fight. He just wanted to protect his record of having no knockout loss in his career. Out of sheer frustration, both committed some foul punches with Clottey unleashing a low blow and Pacquiao doing the FPJ pompyang way, for which they both received warnings from the referee.

There’s no problem with Pacquiao’s succeeding fights because he’s the pound-for-pound king, so he is very marketable. But I believe Bob Arum, the top honcho of Top Rank Promotions, will think ten times this time whether to promote Clottey’s next fight due to his lackadaisical performance. Clottey said his poor boxing performance was due to a bout of diarrhea a day before the collision. Well, it could be true so I will just give him the benefit of the doubt.

Latest reports say Pacman’s next fight will be against the undefeated Venezuelan hard puncher Edwin Valero or a third clash with aging Chicano Juan Manuel Marquez before the much-awaited encounter with former pound-for-pound king and likewise undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. But Mayweather has to first beat Shane Mosley in a fight on May 2 before negotiations can start for the proposed blockbuster match that the world awaits.

Analysts predict that if the plan pushes through (I believe it will), the fight will break all boxing records in terms of revenue and attendance. For sure it will not be like the dull and boring March 14 battle.

Pacquiao’s next fight is the congressional seat in his district. Knocked out by a lady named Darlene Antonino Custodio in his first political fight, this time I think he will win against a different opponent. His people will likely sympathize with him and will try him as a lawmaker, which is not really his field. Let’s wait and see.

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