Joshua Clottey and his team have said that their strategy for defeating Manny Pacquiao and taking his WBO welterweight title will revolve around wearing him down.
The immediate problem with this plan is that it's the same one that plenty of other fighters have tried in the past, and most failed spectacularly.
Granted that not all of them posed the same problems for Pacquiao that Clottey does, but the fact remains that wearing down Pacquiao is usually an uphill struggle.
Traditionally Pacquiao has always struggled with good counter punchers, and last came close to defeat against Juan Manuel Marquez. Clottey is a great counter puncher, but doesn't have the boundless energy needed to get the better of Pacquiao over 12 rounds. So as well as wearing Pacquiao down then, he will have to do it early and probably win by stoppage.
Obviously Clottey's trainers will have something more specific planned for Pacquiao than I've detailed here, but the plan seems like a gamble to me. Miguel Cotto thought his size advantage would make all the difference, and in the end he barely made a dent. Similarly the then larger Ricky Hatton was stopped in his tracks before he even got going.
As for Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, their preparations will probably sacrifice a few of the initial rounds, and wait until Clottty tires out and drops his output for Pacquiao to attack. The blueprint for beating Clottey seems to have been established and the biggest remaining factor seems to be Clottey's size and strength.
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