Former IBF Champion Willing To Fight Pacquiao For Free Before Retiring

Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has faced a lot of opponents in his career, a mix of good and bad ones. The list includes Joshua Clottey, a Ghanian fighter he faced way back in 2010. It was one of the lopsided fights the Pac-Man had, raising the belief that opponents simply used Pacquiao to make money.

Clottey went on to fight six more fights after that, winning five of the last six. He lost to Gabriel Rosado in 2015 via unanimous decision. His last one was against Mfaume Mfaume, a sixth-round TKO win back in March 2019.

At 41, Clottey is on the crossroads of his boxing career. He is set to face Tanzanian Azizi Mponda on September 22 at the Akropong PTC during the Odwira Festival. It remains to be seen if this will be the final fight of his boxing career.

In a press conference leading up to the fight, Clottey revealed that he was open to facing Pacquiao again if he would be given the opportunity. He wants to redeem that forgetful 2010 performance but is aware that chances of that happening are not so high, Modernghana.com reported.

“It is not my call. But I wish it was my call I would charge just One Ghana Cedi. I won’t charge any money for the match. If I get to the ring and the performance is not good, then no pay but if the performance is good, then I will charge for the match," said Clottey.

"I want that fight so badly just to redeem my image but that opportunity is not available. However, if it comes I will grab it. So many things happen when you are in the ring which you don’t know," he added.

Clottey showed that he could take the punching power of Pacquiao in their first meeting. However, he threw fewer punches at the time. Looking back, the Pac-Man unloaded 1,231 punches in that fight compared to Clottey's meager 399. He only hit the eight-time division champion 108 times per the fight stats on Boxingscene.com.

Pacquiao is focused on a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. although the chances of that happening are low. His camp mentioned two names as alternatives: Danny Garcia or Mikey Garcia. In a recent post, Danny Garcia said he is ready to fight Pacquiao if he is chosen to face the 40-year-old future boxing Hall of Famer.