BFF’s
March 14th, 2010I’m assuming most everyone caught the Pacquiao/Clottey fight Saturday night. If you didn’t, in terms of a boxing match, you didn’t miss much. It was the equivalent of watching Pacquiao punch a punching bag for 12 rounds. Some boxing experts might say it was a pretty boring fight with Clottey in the blocking position for 90% of the fight and Pacquiao relentlessly punching away at Clottey’s forearms and ribs. However, if you ask me, it was one of the most entertaining fights I’ve seen in awhile, and not at all for the fighting. The entertainment to me was in watching these two fighters having more fun inside a boxing ring than this random guy whooping on Rob Kardashian. It was like watching two best friends partaking in a good ‘ole slap-fight. From their weigh-in, all the way through the 12th round, these two could not keep a straight face.
source: 8countnews.com
Pacquiao and Clottey live in a boxing world full of mean mugs and false bravado. If you saw the clips of their weigh-in, you could see that for the ritualistic stare-down, they could barely keep a straight face long enough to get a decent picture. They were giggling like two school boys. There’s often times so much tension during the stare-down, it’s not uncommon for the two parties to end up engaging in some kind of fight, or at the least, a verbal sparring match. These two could not have been further from that, both showing a playful spirit. It’s just refreshing to me.
source: espn.com
Their mutual respect for one another was almost comedic at times. Before and after every round they would tap gloves. Each time the referee would separate them, their was a glove tap. There was even a hug before the 12th round! I’ve never seen that before. With Clottey’s only hope for a win coming with a knockout, he wasted a good five seconds of the final round on a man hug. Amazing! Clottey landed more glove taps than punches throughout the whole fight. After a low blow and two accidental head-butts, enough for any normal fighter to get heated and cry foul, these two engaged in smiles, laughing and more glove taps. It was awesome. During the post fight interviews there was more hugging, head rubbing and pure joy and happiness for one another. These two fighters genuinely liked each other and it showed. I wouldn’t be surprised if after the fight they were seen singing karaoke together. I would love to see a post fight documentary of Pacquiao and Clottey just hanging out. How about a Pacquiao concert with Clottey as his backup dancer?! No? I’d pay to watch it.
source: espn.com
For a sport clouded in corruption, it was great to see two genuinely nice guys, having fun representing the sport that they love. Even if the only time Clottey lowered his gloves from his face was to give Pacquiao a g(love) tap. Respect!
- dru
