Clottey to train in Florida

Already in the thick of training in the Bronx in New York, Joshua Clottey’s preparation goes up a notch when the Ghana banger travels to Fort Lauderdale, Florida this weekend for his March 13 showdown with Manny Pacquiao in Dallas, Texas.

The decision to camp out in Fort Lauderdale, which is just 23 miles north of Miami, is for Clottey to escape the wintry weather in New York since Florida weather is pleasant with temperature hovering between 25-15 degrees Celsius this time of year.

Clottey actually began training almost two weeks ago as soon as he arrived from a two-month vacation in his native Ghana, according to his chief handler Vinny Scolpino.

Clottey said last week during the two-city promotional tour in Dallas and New York that he weighs around 160 lbs and that he doesn’t see any problem making the contracted welterweight limit of 147 lbs.

Over at the West Coast, Pacquiao’s own training is going on smoothly at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood under Freddie Roach.

Pacquiao, a 3-1 favorite over his African foe, showed up for training the first time last Friday but is already penciled to have his first sparring session this Thursday or Saturday.

Meanwhile, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum said he expects to announce a sellout soon owing to the strong demand for tickets for the March 13 bout at Cowboys Stadium.

“Including the pre-sale that we had, over 20,000 tickets have been sold as of the weekend,” said Arum.

The Cowboys Stadium can accommodate as much as 100,000, but it will be downsized to 40,000 for the fight.

Since ticket prices are not prohibitive with the premium seat going for just $700 and the cheapest at a mere $50, Arum believes Texas billionaire Jerry Jones, who owns the Dallas Cowboys team in the National Football League, will be overwhelmed by the response of the public to the fight.

Jones is joining hands with Arum in staging the Pacquiao-Clotter duel. (Tempo Sports)

Source: mb.com.ph