Pacman picked wrong guy, says Clottey

MANILA, Philippines - Josh Clottey is going to make Manny Pacquiao regret having chosen him as his next opponent.

“I want Manny Pacquiao to know that he picked a guy who will give him all that he wants. I’m going to fight until the last bell,” the 32-year-old Clottey told fanhouse.com before signing the fight contract Wednesday in New York where he lives.

For the first time in his 15-year career as a pro, Clottey, who has the body of a super athlete, is getting more than a million dollars with a little more to come from the pay-per-view sales.

Pacquiao, according to reports, will get no less than $15 million when everything comes in.

Clottey in the biggest stage there is in boxing, and facing Pacquiao, on March 13, before an expected crowd of 50,000 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is something every fighter dreams of.

Clottey said he’s not going to waste the opportunity.

“When I was traveling to America for the first time, this is what I said to myself at the Ghana airport. I said, ‘You know, I want to travel to America today, and I want to be among those top guys.’ Deep down, I know that I’m one of the top fighters in the world. And I told my daughter that I’m going to be a champion in 2010.”

Clottey’s 10-year-old daughter, Zeenat, will be at ringside during the fight.

Clottey’s manager, Vinnie Scolpino, also told fanhouse.com editor Lem Satterfield that in boxing, nothing could be bigger than facing Pacquiao, now being considered as the greatest of his era.

“You can’t get any bigger in this business than to fight Manny Pacquiao right now. But now, Joshua’s got to take advantage of this opportunity, and to turn it into his favor. And Joshua Clottey has got every skill in the world to do that,” he said.

Clottey was glad that there will be no catchweight for the fight despite late calls from those inside Team Pacquiao for the fight to take place at 145 lb and not 147.

“That’s going to help me a lot, because I don’t think I could have done it at 145 pounds. Pacquiao’s being very nice, because he’s the man now. That’s going to make me the bigger guy in the ring. So, with him choosing me to fight at 147, I respect him for that,” he said.

Clottey said it’s all about giving your best, and against Pacquiao, he sounded like he’d be ready to last a hundred rounds.

“This fight, I’m not going to think about tiring. This fight, I want to make everybody happy,” he said.

“Sometimes, when you’re in the ring, during the later rounds, you think about getting tired. I thought that I might have done that in rounds nine and 10 against (Miguel) Cotto, but I thought that I won the 12th round and the fight,” said Clottey.

Pacquiao was at ringside when Clottey lost a 12-round battle with Cotto in New York last June, and must have said to himself that he could take on any of them. He got rid of Cotto last November, and now it’s Clottey in the way.

He leaves for Los Angeles on Sunday to start his seven-week training.