Pacquiao-Clottey bout no boring fight, says Roach

Freddie Roach expects fireworks when Manny Pacquiao stakes his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Roach said Clottey, who lost twice in his previous bid for a world title, is one guy who loves to mix it up and engages in toe-to-toe action, the kind of fight the 31-year old Pacquiao has been known for.

"I wanted Manny in an action fight, and that’s what we got with Clottey," said Roach. Clottey, 32, and a native of Ghana but now resides in Bronx, New York, came into the picture after Pacquiao turned down former world champion Paulie Malignaggi and current World Boxing Association (WBA) light middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman as replacement for his aborted super-fight with the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. Disagreement in the blood testing procedure to be conducted for Pacquiao’s highly-anticipated bout with Mayweather Jr. led to the downfall of the match many believe would go down as the biggest and richest in the history of prizefighting. "I wanted an action fight. I don’t want Manny in a boring fight," said Roach, the main man in Pacquiao’s corner since 2001. "With Paulie (Malignaggi), it would be a blowout. Let’s face it, he’s not in the same class as Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Yuri Foreman is a good fighter. He’s clever, but he’s boring." Pacquiao is expected to be in the U.S. before Jan. 18 to attend the formal press conference of his showdown with Clottey, after which, he’ll begin training at Roach’s famed Wild Card gym in Los Angeles. Clottey blew his two previous shot at a world title, first against Zab Judah for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight crown in 2008 (technical decision), and last June opposite Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico in a controversial split decision for the WBO 147-pound belt. Pacquiao has since wrested the WBO version of the championship after a 12-round stoppage of Cotto in Las Vegas last November. Although his focus is not set at a March meeting with Clottey, Roach believes somewhere down the road, a Pacquiao-Mayweather Jr. fight will be made. "I do think it will happen eventually," said the three-time Trainer of the Year. “I don't think that either one of them has many other options out there if they want to keep fighting the big fights." "And if Mayweather keeps gambling and living the lifestyle he does, he's going to need money again." Like the rest of the world, Roach was also looking forward of engaging the Mayweather camp in a dream fight with Pacquiao. Then came the Mayweather camp’s demand for a random, Olympic-style drug testing that eventually, led to the disagreement between both parties and the collapse of the multi-million fight itself. "I had been studying his (Mayweather) style and coming up with a game plan and we were mentally getting ready for that fight," he said. "It's disappointing because the whole world wants to see that fight and it would have been good for boxing because boxing needs that. "But we can't force people to fight each other. He has all the excuses in the world and that's just what it is." Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions’ (GBO) chief executive officer (CEO) which represented Mayweather during the negotiations for the Pacquiao fight, has voiced his opinion the other day that there’s still a slim hope of making the bout possible. But Roach doesn’t think so. "I don’t think there’s any hope. The deadline for HBO is past," he said. "Manny is going to fight Clottey on March 13 and we’re just going to move on." – GMANews.TV