Pacquiao podcast on demand

It’s final. The primer on the coming WBO welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey will be accessible on demand through an audio MP3 player imbedded in the website philstar.com starting Monday midnight. To listen to the two-hour discussion, all you need to do is to access the site in the internet, click on the primer icon and listen.

The inaugural podcast on philstar.com was launched a week before Pacquiao’s fight against Miguel Cotto last November and generated thousands of downloads and hits. The initial venture was so successful that philstar.com decided to produce a sequel, this time sponsored by Smart.

To spice up the broadcast, philstar.com’s editor Dino Maragay thought of picking five individuals to participate in the discussion during the actual recording of the podcast. The five were chosen from among the winning entries of a trivia contest launched in the website. The contest had five questions – 1. What is Clottey’s moniker? 2. How much is Clottey’s guaranteed purse for the fight? 3. Who was Clottey’s opponent for a Jan. 16 match that was cancelled when he was offered to fight Pacquiao? 4. Which governing body once recognized Clottey as world welterweight champion? 5. Who was the common fighter whom Pacquiao and Clottey battled?

Dino opened the contest only to Metro Manila residents for practical purposes. Still, entries from different provinces came in. The plan is to invite phone callers in future podcasts so that fans from outside Metro Manila and abroad may join in the discussion.

The answers to the questions are: 1. Clottey is known alternatively as “The Hitter,” “The Grand Master” and of all things, “Satan.” 2. Clottey will take home $900,000 as his share of the $1.2 million guarantee with his manager Vinny Scolpino banking the rest. 3. Mexico’s Michel Rosales would’ve been Clottey’s opponent last Jan. 16. Rosales is the same brawler who outpointed Filipino Mark Jason Melligen in Las Vegas last November. 4. Clottey won the vacant IBF welterweight crown via a ninth round technical decision over Zab Judah in Las Vegas in 2008. 5. Cotto was their common opponent. Pacquiao stopped the Puerto Rican last November while Clottey lost by split decision last June.

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The five winners were:

Ryan Anthony Pajaro, 28. He is an electrical engineering graduate of Mapua and works as a technical support engineer at a call center.

Angela Garchitorena, 23. She is a student at Miriam College.

Richard Mamuyac, 33. He is employed as a communications specialist by the People’s Management Association of the Philippines.

Gary Flogencio Villamero, 21. He graduated magna cum laude with a mass communications degree major in journalism at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and is a contributing writer for a newspaper.

Allan Managuit, 34. He is a systems administrator.

Aside from participating in the podcast, the five were given loot bags with gifts courtesy of philstar.com and Smart.

The recording took place at the UST studios last Tuesday. Handling the controls was UST studio technician Rico Bicol. Dino was assisted by philstar.com co-editor and special reports writer Vernadette Joven and Jhon Richard Miguel of philstar.com’s technical group.

The program was split into five segments.

The first segment introduced the protagonists – their age, height, wingspan, record, title fight experience and weight history. We talked about Clottey’s size advantage. As early as 1997, Clottey was already campaigning as a welterweight while Pacquiao was only a flyweight. Clottey has fought twice as a superwelterweight (154 pounds) and scaled 147 in last two outings. The Ghanaian stepped inside the ring to face Diego Corrales two years ago weighing a hefty 170 pounds. In contrast, Pacquiao’s highest weight was 144 pounds for the Cotto bout.

The second segment delved on Clottey’s reputation as an instinctively dirty fighter. We recounted how Clottey couldn’t help himself in repeatedly butting Carlos Baldomir in a London fight in 1999, prompting Italian referee Franco Ciminale to rule a disqualification in the 11th round even as the Ghanaian was way ahead on points. We also spoke about Pacquiao’s problems in dealing with Agapito Sanchez, a notorious rule-breaker, in their 2001 bout. The five guests commented on how Clottey’s tendency to fight dirty may distract Pacquiao.

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The third segment broke down 25 factors of consequence - size, hand-speed, stamina, foot-speed, durability, quality of opposition, activity, experience, unpredictability, resiliency, hunger, knockout power, corner, agility, arsenal, defense, chin, heart, style, susceptibility to cuts, work rate, combinations, strong finisher, body banger and reflexes. The consensus among the discussants was Pacquiao enjoyed the advantage in 17 factors and Clottey in six with two - durability and unpredictability – even. Clottey got the nod in the size, hunger, defense, chin, susceptibility to cuts and body banger departments.

The fourth segment took up fight strategies – what Pacquiao and Clottey must do to win.

Finally, the fifth segment speculated on what could be next for both fighters in case of a win or a loss.

The lively discussion went on for 118 minutes and when you click on the icon in the website, you wouldn’t even notice that the podcast is almost two hours long. That’s how exciting it was.

So mark your calendars. Starting this Monday at midnight, you can listen to the Pacquiao-Clottey podcast, exclusively on philstar.com. It’s your vehicle to appreciate everything and anything there is to know about the fight on Sunday morning, March 14, Manila time.