How about you earn your purse?

Sky Sports commentator Ian Darke summed up Joshua Clottey’s ‘survival’ style performance against Manny Pacquiao perfectly saying “Clottey would see going to points as an achievement.” Yet if 1 fighter comes for the pay check rather than to fight, should he receive the full purse?

The Ghanaian fighter adopted his peek-a-boo style; the same he used to great effect against Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito and despite losing both of those bouts, his strong defensive strategy gave him a solid base to then go on an attack with counter punches.

However, the difference between his victory over Zab Judah and his defeat against Pacquiao is he was willing to throw punches at Judah. Whilst against Pac, Clottey held his gloves high protecting his face for much of the fight, rarely going on the offensive.

As a result, the Filipino fighter threw 1231 punches to the challenger’s 399, which ultimately handed him the unanimous decision. Pacquiao won every single round on one judge’s scorecard and all but one on the other two.

So does the Ghanaian’s performance justify the biggest payday of his career?

Clottey didn’t lose the fight because he was outclassed, like Juan Manuel Marquez was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. He lost the bout because he didn’t go on the offensive enough to challenge the WBO Welterweight champion.

When the pay checks are agreed between the promoters and both fighters, they are paying the fighters to go out and challenge each other, not survive.

Yet Clottey isn’t the only guilty party in employing these tactics.

Kevin Johnson challenged Vitali Klitschko for his WBC heavyweight title, but ‘challenged’ may be an overstatement. Johnson never poised much of a threat to Klitschko as the Ukrainian boxer claimed a unanimous points victory. Two judges scoring the fight 120-108 and the other 119-109.

The American was unable to conquer the size advantage over the WBC champion but in reality, the effort was as non-existent as his punches. By the ninth round, Johnson seemed to know his game was up and simply avoided the Ukrainian at all costs to prevent a knock out.

The WBC challenger’s performance made fans long for the days of Tyson and Lewis, when the heavyweight division was competitive and exciting.

Surely, when a boxer headlines a card like Johnson did against Klitschko or Clottey did against Pacquiao, the fans deserve a performance as ultimately they are the ones who are funding the fighter’s pay check.

Paul Smith’s defence against local rival Tony Dodson to retain his British super-middleweight title was a performance that showed a fighter with real passion and desire.

The Liverpudlian fighter suffered two cuts as the pair clashed heads early on but still managed to overcome the deficit to defeat Dodson on points. Both fighters turned up and gave everything in the ring, which made for a much more competitive bout that Clottey or Johnson offered.

This raises the question whether boxers are being paid too much money at the top, or those who are there for the pay check rather than the belts deserve world title shots?

The reality is it’s a sad day for boxing when a fighter is happy to leave the ring with a healthier bank balance, than a world title around his waist.

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