Manny Pacquiao retains welterweight crown

Manny Pacquiao defended his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey with a comfortable points victory in Dallas.

Pacquiao scored a 120-108, 119-109, 119-109 but could not find Clottey's breaking point as he maintained his proud record of never having been stopped.

The Ghanaian may have entered the ring with a flamboyant dance but failed to show as much imagination once the fight started and Pacquiao was always on top.

The pattern was established early in the first round.
Despite Clottey's peek-a-boo defence, Pacquiao still managed to get in several heavy shots to the body.

He also took one heavy jab to the side of the head which almost caused him to fall.

Clottey managed to get in a couple of good jabs of his own in the second round, but was still decidedly second best.

In the third, Clottey had success with straight right hands as Pacquiao was coming in and also caught the champion flush with a good left uppercut.

Pacquiao came back throwing several shots, but it was Clottey who landed the heaviest with another uppercut. The Philippine responded in the fourth round as normal service was resumed, forcing Clottey back onto the defensive.

At one point, the referee had to warn Pacquiao for a double-handed punch as he piled on the hits.

Pacquiao was again the busier in the fifth round, but Clottey did knock the champion's head back with a stiff jab midway through.
Round six was a quieter affair which Pacquiao perhaps shaded, but Clottey's corner were encouraging their man to go on the attack as the Philippine tired.

He did his best, but some shots to the body made Clottey look unsteady on his legs early in the seventh. The Ghanaian fought back, landing flush with a right cross, but Pacquiao then pinned his man in the corner later in the round. The challenger was really starting to suffer in the next round as the body shots began to take a toll.

The fight was becoming more and more one-sided as Pacquiao fired off several combinations. That pattern continued into the ninth and tenth as Clottey moved into all-out survival mode.

Both men went for big shots in the 11th, with Clottey forcing Pacquiao's head back with a pair of uppercuts but it was the champion who finished the round on top landing further blows.

Clottey hung on for one more round to maintain his record of never having been stopped, but Pacquiao had done more than enough to defend his title.