Joshua Clottey on Manny Pacquiao - Part Three By Media Report on Doghouse Boxing (Feb 27, 2010)
What would a victory mean to you?
JOSHUA CLOTTEY: A victory would mean very, very more than a lot to me. That’s why I am so happy about this opportunity. And second, if I beat Manny Pacquiao I am going to be very much happy, because he is the best fighter out there. He is the man now and he’s giving me a chance to fight him and if I beat him, I’m going to be on top of the world. It will be very important to the people in my country and that is very important in life.
What was it like growing up?
JOSHUA CLOTTEY: When I was a young boy growing up I saw the boys in the area and I
said I wanted to fight them. I fought one and then I wanted to fight again like a revenge. I beat him and I became a boxer. My life was not easy for me at all. I had to go all over the world to become champion. I came to America after fighting in England where things were very wrong. Then I came here and things were moving along with Top Rank and Bob Arum and I have to give thanks to them.
These are both your fighters and it must be difficult for you…how do you see this fight playing out?
BOB ARUM: Of course I have and the more I play it over in my head I realize how competitive this fight is going to be. Nobody, with any real certainty, can predict this fight. Everybody knows how Manny Pacquiao fights. Everybody knows the angles that he throws punches from. Everybody knows that Joshua Clottey is a tremendous defensive fighter and can put a real hurting on an opponent. Everybody knows that Clottey is the bigger man and Manny is the smaller man. People talk about how much Manny has gone up in weight, but he really hasn’t gone up much. He couldn’t make 130 so he fought at 135 pounds. He was 138 when he fought Ricky Hatton. If he gets on the scale now at the weigh-in weighing 142 or 143 that’s because he ate breakfast and lunch on the day of the weigh-in, so if he had to he could still make 135 pounds. The idea that suddenly Manny Pacquiao has become a big man is just not true. Joshua has the size and he is a natural welterweight…Manny Pacquiao isn’t and that makes intrigue in the fight. Even Joshua would admit that Manny is the favorite in the fight because he has such a great resume but I can go either way.
