On the surface "The Event" appears to have been a huge success. A reported 50,994 were in attendance to watch Manny Pacquiao's (51-3-2, 38 KO) WBO welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey (35-4, 20 KO). As a stab in the dark I'd go out on a limb and say I wouldn't be surprised to see close to 1 million PPV buys. For those of us that fell for the hype and shelled out the $54.95 (thank Jeebus for the Cerveza Tecate rebate), the fight card as a whole, fell short of its mark.
The undercard looked good on paper, Freddie Roach predicted another Pacquiao knockout, and Joshua Clottey vowed he would not be knocked out. Out of the three, only Clottey's promise to survive Pacquiao's assault came to fruition.
The undercard was a bore, to say the least. I watched middleweight John Duddy plod around the ring in search of a knockout of Jr. middleweight Michael Medina. The knockout never came. Duddy, who is known as an all action type of fighter, failed to deliver, save for a few fleeting moments throughout the bout.
After Duddy's dud of a performance I watched what used to be Jose Luis Castillo absorb punches from Alfonso Gomez for five rounds. Castillo eventually quit on his stool before the start of the sixth. He has since retired from boxing.
In the best of the undercard fights David Diaz and Humberto Soto went at it for twelve friendly rounds. Diaz, who was battered from pillar to post by Pacquiao only two years ago, was dropped in the first and twelfth rounds en route to losing a unanimous decision. Soto picked up the vacant WBC lightweight title in the process. I missed most of what I'm told was a rather dull affair, as I chose to draw pictures of "SpongeBob SquarePants" with my friend's 3-year old daughter.
When the main event began I promptly dropped the drawing paper and crayons in anticipation of another virtuoso performance from the current P4P King, Manny Pacquiao. Manny did what he was supposed to do. He darted in and out of range as he cracked away at Clottey's nigh-impenetrable defense, pounding him to the body in between it all. He withstood some vicious uppercuts from Clottey, while never appearing to be in any danger. Despite a moment of frustration which brought about Pacquiao's best Emmanuel Burton-inspired double punch, Pacquiao fought a flawless fight.
Clottey, on the other hand, should be ashamed of his performance. It was widely speculated before the fight that Clottey spoke like a man not expecting to win; only to survive. He fought like a man that wanted no part of winning. In short, he showed up to collect his check while avoiding excessive punishment.
The action between Pacquiao and Clottey seemed to be a carbon copy from each round to the next. Clottey walked Pacquiao down behind his hands. Pacquiao moved from side-to-side and back-and-forth and banged away at his gloves and arms. He mixed up his attack by going to Clottey's body, presumably throwing and landing more shots to the body than in any of his previous performances. Clottey occasionally threw a punch. On a few rare occasions he threw two and three punch combinations.
At one point in the eighth round HBO's Jim Lampley, possibly in an attempt to drum up excitement amongst the viewers, went on a Cactus Jack-inspired tirade.
"There you go. Four-punch, five-punch, six-punch combination. Body shot, body shot, bang, bang, bang. Bang! Bang! Bang! Try and stop it! Bang! Bang! Here I come. Bang! You want to throw some time? Bang! This is the Manny Pacquiao who has dominated boxing for the past three years. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! You want to throw back? Bang!"
Manny Pacquiao walked away with a couple bumps and bruises, his WBO belt still around his waist, and his P4P King status still intact. Clottey left the ring looking like a man that had gone for a very long jog. He was dripping in sweat, but absent of any real bumps and bruises to his face.
"The Event" failed to deliver on its large promise. Almost 51,000 rabid fans showed up at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. They remained quiet for much of the night, save for moments of Pacquiao's furious flurries. Those that watched the fight from our homes were left with much to be desired. We were sold an event to behold; we got something less than spectacular. Manny Pacquiao held up his end of the bargain despite Clottey's stubborn refusal to return fire. Those that benefited the most from "The Event" were those with a financial stake in the fight. The rest of us will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our $20 rebate checks.