Sports

Solid win boosts Pacquiao’s resume

ARLINGTON, Texas — Less than two hours after earning a one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey, Manny Pacquiao was across the street from Cowboys Stadium starring in a concert at the Ballpark in Arlington.

He said his opening song would be “La Bamba,” a tribute perhaps to the Mexican fans, who were among the 50,994 who attended the first boxing event at Cowboys Stadium.

Pacquiao is making as much a habit of singing after his fights as he is piling of victories. His workmanlike win over Clottey retained the WBO welterweight championship and will not hurt his standing in many eyes as the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet. If only Clottey would have done something to make the fight more memorable.

The native of Ghana based in the Bronx was in survival mode from the opening bell, sheltered in his tight defense and reluctant to engage with his smaller, but faster opponent. At the end of the fight, Clottey seemed to take pride in not being knocked out, though he lost 34 of the 36 rounds scored and threw just 399 punches to Pacquiao’s 1,231.

“I did my best,” Clottey said. “Manny Pacquiao has been dominating everybody. He has been knocking them out. I’m very, very strong. But the guy is fast and good, and he throws a lot of punches from every angle. I think I did my best.”

There were times when Pacquiao seemed bored. Though the Filipino icon couldn’t get to Clottey’s chin, he had great success pounding the body with hooks and combinations.

It was like working a heavy bag that occasionally punched back. At one point, with Clottey holding his gloves high over his chin, Pacquiao leaped and with both hands hit Clottey on the sides of his head.

It drew laughs from the crowd and a warning from the referee.

“He never hurt me,” Clottey said. “He’s fast, but he never hurt me.”

Pacquiao will now go from prizefighter to singer to politician. He is running for a congressional seat in the Philippines. The election is May 1 and there is speculation that if he wins, he may not fight for a while, if ever again.

When and if he does fight again, a matchup with the victor of the May 1 bout between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley would be the logical opponent, though a dispute over blood-testing procedures foiled the first attempt at a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.

“I want that fight, but it’s up to him,” Pacquiao said of Mayweather. “I’m ready to fight anytime. Maybe if Mosley wins, I’ll fight him. Floyd’s style isn’t difficult.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Pacquiao-Clottey was “beyond my expectations,” and sounded like he would be first in line to host a bout with Pacquiao fighting either Mayweather or Mosley.

“God willing I think we can have a fight here that will beat the NBA All-Star Game where there were 108,000,” Jones said. “I believe we can do that in a fight here if we can have Manny Pacquiao involved in it.”