March 13, 2010 finally arrived last Saturday and for Filipino boxing fans everywhere, this meant sitting in front of their (or their friend’s) widescreen HDTVs and watching the Pacquiao-Clottey fight on HBO pay-per-view. As I mentioned in my previous posts, this was supposed to be the biggest fight of our generation, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, but as fate would have it, we were dealt with Clottey instead.

Which wouldn’t necessarily disappoint boxing fans because Clottey is a respectable fighter, except that once your boxing appetite has been whetted by Manny vs Money, everything else pales in comparison.

Still, almost 50,000 people packed the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, the third biggest crowd to watch a boxing match in the U.S. ever. Even though people had to spend close to $100 just to be on farthest seats, they were at least compensated by state-of-the-art electronics provided by the stadium–notable two 80-yard (yes, YARD) widescreen monitors. Televisions wider than a football field and almost as long! And the resolution was so crisp that even when focused on the camera, it was still clear!

However, the size of the crowd and the stadium were sadly the highlight of the evening, as the match between the two fighters was lacking in excitement, most of which to blame was Clottey. From the start of the fight all the way to Round 12, Clottey had his hands up, barely punching back. Pacquiao was the complete opposite as he was his usual attacking self, punching away at Clottey’s body. The outcome was expected–an uneventful runaway victory by unanimous decision for Pacquiao. So lopsided was the punching statistics that at the end, Pacquiao threw about 1,200 to Clottey’s 400–for every punch Clottey threw, Pacquiao was throwing three!

Some say Clottey was afraid, but some say Clottey was smart; he had already won $1.25 million the minute he signed up, he just needed to last the 12 rounds and not get hurt.

As uneventful as the fight was, we still had some excitement at least for a few minutes, courtesy of a touching rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by three of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Last time I wrote about some snags in the ongoing negotiations for the fight between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather. It all centered around Mayweather’s demand to use Olympic-style blood testing for the fight. Well, a few developments have happened since then:

• Pacquiao pushed through with the defamation suit against the Mayweather camp–Floyd Jr., Floyd Sr., Roger Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Shaefer (of Golden Boy Promotions). Pacquiao is not suing for the money–he’s basically asking for the minimum amount for a defamation suit, and besides, he has tons of it–he’s suing because he wants to clear his name. He doesn’t want people to think that he is indeed using steroids. His success is the result of years and years of hard work and discipline. Short of a public apology, this is the venue for reclaiming at least some of your tarnished reputation.
• The impasse with the negotiations went to an arbitration with a retired judge. They tried negotiating for a few days, and the negotiators for both sides agreed on a compromise: Pacquiao and Mayweather would take the blood tests 24 days before the fight. Pacquiao was ok with this, but Mayweather wasn’t. This was the end of the negotiations. The next day, Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, declared the fight dead and said he was looking for a new opponent for Pacquiao.
• After looking at different fighters, Pacquiao has decided to fight Joshua Clottey next. This should be an interesting fight, because Clottey is strong, but of course this is not the fight that everyone was clamoring for.

We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. Maybe a miracle will happen and the fight pushes through. If not, we can only hope it happens later this year.

After back-to-back spectacular knockouts this year against bigger fighters–Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto–Manny “Pac-man” Pacquiao had cemented his status as the current Pound-for-Pound (PFP) king. Since the previous PFP king, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, had come out of retirement after Pacquiao forced Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya into retirement (one in, one out), many have been clamoring for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown (as I mentioned in one of my previous posts).

The week after the fight with Cotto, talks had already started between the two camps. For a while everything was surprisingly smooth sailing. Surprising, because in the world of boxing–especially the more famous fighters–egos tend to get in the way of arranging a fight. Even the order of the names in the billing (Pacquiao-Mayweather or Mayweather-Pacquiao?) can make or break a fight. A date for the fight, March 13, had been firmed up, even though the venue has yet to be decided. MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which has hosted a lot of the two fighters’ previous bouts, seem to be favored, even though other venues in places like Texas, California and New York City have bidded for the fight, knowing how potentially big the fight will be.

Well, lately the negotiations have run into a snag, because now the Mayweather camp is asking for Olympic-style blood-testing in addition to the standard urine testing by the Nevada State Commission. Pacquiao is ok with doing the blood test three times: in January, 30 days before the fight, and right after the fight. Mayweather wants it random, which might mean up to a few days before the fight. Pacquiao does not want this because he believes it will weaken him (physically and psychologically) for the fight. Many believe this is all a smokescreen, and that the fight will eventually push through. However, they think the Mayweather camp is using this to affect Pacquiao mentally and to plant the idea into fans of the possibility that Pacquiao might be doping. This back-and-forth has been serious enough that now Pacquiao is threatening to sue Mayweather. To paraphrase his latest statement, “enough talk, let’s fight!”

Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao lands a punch against Ricky "Hitman" Hatton

Last Saturday, May 2, 2009, was a very special day for Filipino Sports fans everywhere. Yes, it was the night when the Boston Celtics won game seven of the their playoffs with the Chicago Bulls–both teams very popular with Filipino NBA fans. But more importantly, it was the night when the Philippines’ “Pambansang Kamao” (”National Fists” in Filipino), Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao, took Las Vegas by storm.

Manny Pacquiao, the number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world, fought Ricky Hatton, the erstwhile IBO junior welterweight (140 lbs) champion, and the most famous boxer in Great Britain. The boxing match, which was held in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was huge even by Vegas standards. Manny Pacquiao, who didn’t have a title but was the more popular fighter, was guaranteed $12 million while Ricky Hatton, who was the reigning champion, was guaranteed $8 million. This is not counting their share of pay-per-view sales, which is estimated to top $100 million.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, had said before the fight that Pacquiao will knock out Hatton in the thrid round. He was wrong. Pacquiao had knocked down Hatton twice in the first round, but in the dying seconds of the second round, Pacquiao landed a left hook on Hatton’s chin (which, according to boxers, is the sweetest of sweet spots to land a punch) which knocked out Hatton even before he hit the canvass. The referee didn’t even have to count; it was clear from the dazed look on Hatton’s face that the fight was over. He had to lie down for several minutes to recuperate, and he was sent to the hospital after the fight to be examined (everything checked out fine).

Such is the punching power and speed of Pacquiao that he has been dubbed the “Mexicutioner” because of his triumphs over Mexican boxers: Héctor Velázquez, Óscar Larios, Jorge Solis, Érik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Márquez and the very popular Oscar De La Hoya (a U.S. citizen but of Mexican descent)

He is only the second boxer in history (next to Oscar De La Hoya) to have won titles in six different weight divisions.

It is said that when Manny Pacquiao has a fight, the crime rate in the Philippines drops to zero–because everybody is glued to their tv sets. There is no traffic in the streets and the government troops and communist rebels stop fighting for a few hours.

Images of the fight at The Telegraph’s website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/picturegalleries/5266901/Hatton-v-Pacquiao-action.html