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It?s no longer a question of who will win, but in what round Filipino boxing idol Manny ?Pacman? Pacquiao will stop his opponent, Joshua? ?The Hitter? Clottey of Ghana, when they clash today (Saturday night in the US).
Their title bout dubbed ?The Event? at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas will play out before a sellout crowd of 45,000.
For Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera, who was stopped by Pacquiao in the 11th round in San Antonio in 2003 and was beaten anew in their return bout in 2007, victory will come in the ninth round.
David Diaz, who will try to regain the World Boxing Council lightweight title against Mexican Humberto Soto in the main supporting bout, also batted for a victory by Pacquiao, his tormentor by knockout in 2008. ?The end will probably come in the seventh,? he said.
Former champion Gerry Peñalosa said Clottey should fall in the last three rounds while another Filipino boxer, Brian Viloria, predicted a knockout for Pacquiao in the sixth and seventh rounds.
The 31-year-old Pacquiao, who will be fighting in front of the largest crowd of his career, is a 5-1 favorite in the scheduled 12-round fight where his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown will be at stake.
Pacquiao (50-3-2, 28 KOs) tipped scales at at 145? pounds for the fight while Clottey (35-3) weighed in at 147 pounds during Friday?s the official weigh-in just outside the main entrance of the gigantic $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium.
"I am not going to promise you a knockout, but I will do my best," Pacquiao told hundreds of fans who watched the weigh-in. "We have a strategy that we created in our training so people are going to be surprised."
"After the fight we will have a party," Pacquiao added.
Clottey's trainer Lenny DeJesus said his 32-year-old ward would weigh about 160 pounds by the time he climbs the ring, giving him a possible 10-pound weight advantage over Pacquiao.
"I will be the stronger than any fight before," said Clottey. "I am ready."
But Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach doesn?t care about DeJesus? plan for Clottey.
?The heavier he comes in, the happier I will be,? said Roach, a four-time Trainer of the Year, explaining that a rapid gain of more than 15 pounds will make a fighter sluggish.?
Other world champions, who have tasted the power of Pacquiao's punches and came up short, are convinced that Pacquiao will again emerge victorious.
Oscar De La Hoya, the former poster boy of boxing who hasn't fought since Pacquiao made him quit in his stool on the eighth round, said it would be an easy victory for Pacquiao despite Clottey's edge in height and heft.
World beaters who weren't able to do battle with Pacquiao but were familiar with his exploits also gave the seven-time champion in as many divisions the nod over Clottey.
Former World Boxing Association welterweight champion Antonio Margarito said Pacquiao would win, but did not elaborate.
Jorge Arce, the reigning WBO junior bantamweight titlist, said Pacquiao will win by unanimous decision.
Online polls also gave Pacquiao a good chance of finally dealing Clottey his first-ever knockout loss
Even the ?Pacmon,? who had never made any forecast on his son?s previous fights, expects Pacquiao to clobber Clottey. "I have no doubt about who's going to win," Dionisia Pacquiao said on Friday.
Dionisia admitted that Clottey was far larger than Manny, but she noted that her son faced opponents larger than Clottey in the past. "And he beat them all," she added.
As in the past, the ?Pacmon? will not watch the fight live on screen but will instead just pray for her son?s victory and safety./INQUIRER/AP
