Punchstats: Pacman relentless on attack

DALLAS – Joshua Clottey will wake up in the morning looking for dents in his awesome body.

Because for 12 long rounds Saturday night, the former world champion from Ghana took a big volume of punches from Manny Pacquiao, most of them to the body.

Based on the final punchstats following their WBO welterweight clash at the Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao threw a total of 1,231 punches, probably more than what he threw against Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto combined.

Pacquiao landed a total of 246 rounds against Clottey, who should wake up to a lot of pain. The frustrated 33-year-old challenger covered up most of the time he only threw a total of 399 punches, landing only 108.

Lenny de Jesus, Clottey’s trainer, said he urged Clottey to throw more punches because that’s the only way for him to win. But the boxer opted otherwise.

Pacquiao threw more jabs ever in his life, 549 in all but landing only 14 of them. Clottey jabbed 162 times, connecting with 16 of them, and on a few occassions looked effective.

In the power punches department, the department that hurts, Pacquiao threw 682 bombs and landed 232. Most of them found the side of Clottey’s body, and those to the head were partially blocked but counted as well.

Clottey threw only 237 power punches or 445 less than Pacquiao’s, finding its mark only 82 times. Pacquiao took more than that against Cotto last November, and came out smiling in the end.

“He put up a good defense,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach.

“But a good defense is not enough to win a fight,” he added.

“I lost to Manny Pacquiao. He’s very, very fast and he’s strong, too. I respect him. He’s the best, pound-for-pound,” said Clottey.

“I trained a lot and I was in good condition. So, he never hurt me. He’s fast but he never hurt me. That’s why I took all those punches,” he said.