A Manny Pacquiao fight, controversial? Surely not. A Joshua Clottey fight, controversial? Again, surely not! It turned out that, 15 years ago today, in a big fight that played out in front of a huge crowd of fans who had filed into the cavernous Cowboys Stadium, we witnessed a fight that was deemed as quite controversial on the night, and then escalated in terms of its controversy later on.
Let’s rewind.
Pacquiao, pretty much at his peak in March of 2010, was 31 years old, and the southpaw dynamo from the Philippines was the reigning WBO welterweight champion. Pac-Man was 50-3-2(38). Clottey, also on a good run, although nothing like the meteoric one Pacquiao was enjoying, was a year the older man and he was 35-3(20).
The world was waiting for, in fact was absolutely demanding, a super-fight showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Lots of issues were in the way, and they would not be overcome for, as it turned out, another five years. In the meantime, Pacquiao would fight Clottey, this in a fight dubbed “The Event.”
What was expected to be a good fight, maybe even a great one, turned out to be a dud. And the aforementioned ‘C’ word – controversial – was to be used. Why? Well, quite simply, proud and proven tough African warrior Clottey barely threw a punch. All night long. It was a shutout, with Pacquiao winning by lopsided scores of 120-108, 119-109, 119-109.
Were it not such a big fight, one featuring the planet’s biggest star, plenty of fans would likely have walked out long before the final bell. So, why had Clottey, who had a rock for a chin, who had genuine fighting heart, and who had proven ability, failed to fight, to show up and give his all? Theories abounded, with some people going as far as to say the fix was in. Just why the need for a fix would be, well, needed here, was never explained.
However, some years after the fight, Clottey dropped a bombshell in stating that he basically lost the fight on purpose, this because he was getting robbed by his then manager.
Clottey, who fought on for some time after the loss to Pac-Man, spoke on the Prime Take show, this via Joy News, and he had the following to say:
“The manager (I had at the time) – Vinny Scolpino – had already accepted $1million as payment. I came in and negotiated $1.3million,” Clottey said. “It was a fight I was supposed to get $2million as the pay. The pay-per-view was $100 for each viewer, but he [Scolpino] negotiated [just] $3 on my behalf out of the $100. Even with the $3, I could only earn my share after 300,000 buys. So, if 300,001 people buy, I will earn only $3.”
“So you would basically fight for free?” Clottey was then asked on the show.
“Yeah,” Clottey replied. “I tried negotiating but they claimed if I can’t fight I should leave, so I had to take the fight. Meanwhile, my manager was making 33 percent profit from each pay-per-view income……I regret signing with that manager. I was supposed to make more money. I was not happy about the Pacquiao fight because I had three years [left] on my contract with my manager so I decided to blow it up.”
So, in a nutshell, Clottey didn’t fight, he didn’t give his all, because he knew he was getting robbed of what should have been his biggest payday. There is, all these years after the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, no real reason to doubt what the loser had to say (that said, it sure would be fascinating to hear what Clottey has to say about the now 15-year old fight he had with Pacquiao today), and who wouldn’t blame a fighter for being unwilling to give their all when they knew their team wasn’t doing the same as far as paying up?
How hard a fully committed Clottey might have pushed Pacquiao, we will never know. But on the night of the fight, well before its conclusion, fans knew something was amiss, this simply due to the lack of leather thrown out by Clottey. Was Clottey really robbed of a massive chunk of his payday, and is this why he merely survived to hear the final bell? Maybe. Again, we must take Clottey at his word. The words “The Grand Master” said during that February 2023 interview.
