Outpointing Manny Pacquiao will be difficult for Joshua Clottey

MANILA, Philippines – Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight champion Joshua Clottey of Ghana will have to change his strategy if he wants to beat pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao on March 13, a boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) trainer said.

“He will have to open up his offensive game if he plans on beating a guy like Pacquiao and I just don't know if he has that in him at this late stage of his career,” Ron Frazier told Percy Crawford of FightHype.com.

Frazier is a trainer at Xtreme Couture, which is owned by former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Randy Couture.

The trainer holds private lessons and boxing lessons (beginner, intermediate and advanced sparring). He is also the head coach of Xtreme Couture’s professional and amateur MMA teams.

Frazier said the Ghanian will find it difficult to upend Pacquiao given the Filipino’s immense speed and power.

“Clottey is just not busy enough. He's a tough guy, a big guy and very durable and he's a tough task for anybody, but just because he doesn't open up offensively, it's very difficult for him to outpoint a guy like Manny Pacquiao, a guy that has perpetual motion and constantly changing angles,” he noted.

The 7-division world champion Pacquiao (50-3-2, with 38 knockouts) will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight belt against Clottey (35-3, with 20 KOs) at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Source: abs-cbnnews.com