Pacquiao thinks Clottey is tougher than ‘Money’

King of the ring Manny Pacquiao thinks he would have an easier fight against former pound-for-pound titlist Floyd Mayweather Jr. after giving tough former welterweight champion Joshua Clottey his worst beating ever.

“Mayweather’s style is not as difficult as Clottey’s,” Pacquiao told Filipino journalists. “It’s easy to study.”

Pacquiao was trying to compare the defensive styles of Clottey and Mayweather, an unbeaten champion in five different weight divisions, who could be his next opponent in what could be the biggest boxing fight in history.

“But he [Mayweather] has to take care of business [against Shane Mosley] first,” said Pacquiao as he reiterated his readiness to fight the trash-talking Mayweather. “Otherwise, I will be fighting Mosley.”

Pacquiao earlier said that Mayweather has a very tough fight against 38-year-old Mosley, who stopped former welterweight titlists Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito in his last two fights.

Pacquiao thinks Mosley would beat Mayweather because of Mosley’s speed and power.

But the brash Mayweather belittled Pacquiao’s shutout win over the thoroughly outclassed Clottey Saturday night at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium before almost 51,000 people, the biggest boxing attendance in the United States in 17 years.

The self-absorbed Mayweather, who claims to be the best fighter in the world, branded Pacquiao as a “one dimensional” despite the Filipino superstar’s virtuoso handling of a bigger fighter Mayweather probably would not even fight.

“Personally, I think Pacquiao got exposed in that fight for being one-dimensional,” Mayweather told Tom Jenkins of The Cage Report. “You can have all [the offensive] ability in the world but with no defense you’re not going to last long against a good counter puncher such as myself.

“Look at the way Clottey was getting through. Each time he threw something it landed. Then at the end Pacquiao’s was all busted up, when’s the last time you’ve seen my face all messed up like that? That’s the difference between an amateur and a true pound-for-pound boxer.”

Mayweather, 33, who remains unbeaten in 45 fights, described Pacquiao-Clottey as “boring” and promised an action-packed encounter when he challenges Mosley for his World Boxing Association version of the welter crown.

“I think Pacquiao gave the fans a boring fight, he was punching [Clottey’s] arms for all 12 rounds. At least when you watch Floyd Mayweather you know you’ll be seeing non-stop action for 30 minutes straight and that’s what you’ll see on May 1st,” he said.

Pacquiao and Mayweather were close to wrapping up a mega fight just before Christmas until the negotiations fell through on Mayweather’s demand for random Olympic-style blood testing, which has never been required in professional boxing.

Both fighters were guaranteed $25 million each for what could have been the biggest fight in the history of the sport.

Mayweather, who has been sued for defamation by Pacquiao for insinuating that he might be on performance enhancing drugs, took yet another potshot at the seven-time champion in different weight classes on the issue of drug testing.

“The thing is I am just looking out for the good of the sport, everyone should compete on a fair level but [Pacquiao] doesn’t want that,” Mayweather said. “I’m not going to say what he is or isn’t on, but let’s just say that HGH is one hell of a drug. All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather, we all know that. If he wants to fight me, he doesn’t have to look far. Just look for the biggest mansion in Vegas and that’s me.”

Source: Jun Medina  | The Manila Times