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Remember, our new time slot from now on: Sundays 9 to 11pm EST.

Today on "MMA Nation" we'll be joined by the Editor-in-Chief Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook. We'll talk to Christ about last night's Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight, James Toney signing with the UFC and HBO's claim that there is only a 5 percent crossover between the MMA and boxing audiences.

We'll also go deeper into potential UFC vs. Strikeforce in April talk as well as cover all the news from the week in MMA.

"MMA Nation" will air tonight 9:00pm EST to 11:00pm EST on 106.7 The Fan. To listen live over the Internet, go to The Fan's website and click "Listen Live".

I'm also on Twitter: @mmanation.

"MMA Nation" is also available by podcast on iTunes. For now, iTunes is disabled, but the show will be posted on the station's website soon afterward. I'll be sure to put a post up when they're ready to go. And when we're back on iTunes, I'll put up a link to that as well.

Number to call: 800-636-1067

Email here.

Talk to you then.

UPDATE: Well, I just now found out the show is being pushed to the HD signal due to whatever it's due to. Unless you've got an HD tuner and live in DC, you'll have to wait for the podcasts. 

People don't like it when I complain about being on HD radio, but candidly, you don't have the slightest clue how unbelievably frustrating this is. So, if you're outside of the area, just wait for the podcasts. That's the best I can do.

UPDATE II: EB from The Sports Junkies had an excellent idea: stream the show live over UStream.tv. So, that's what we're going to try. I've never done it before, so I'll need folks to tell me if it's working or not. Here's my channel. I'm going to try to embed the player right here on BE. Stay tuned.
 

That's how Bad Left Hook describes it:

Joshua Clottey said he'd be aggressive.

Joshua Clottey lied.

Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO) easily won a unanimous decision against a tentative, scared Clottey (35-4, 20 KO) on scores of 120-108, 119-109, 119-109. Bad Left Hook scored it 119-109 for Pacquiao.

Clottey just did not come to win this fight. In the second (the only round we gave Clottey), it looked like maybe it would be a fight. But it was not. Pacquiao landed 246/1231 (20%, to Clottey's 108/399 (27%). The fight was not even remotely close. Not even close. Miguel Cotto put up far more of a fight than did Clottey, who gave the fight away. Period. He gave the fight away.

As for using this fight to hype a potential superfight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Pacquiao offered this:

"I want that fight, the world wants that fight, but it's up to him," Pacquiao said.

Max Kellerman's point was salient: Clottey barely lost to top welterweights yet couldn't win a round against Pacquiao. There was some pre-fight discussion about whether a dull win over Clottey would dampen interest in a mega-fight with Mayweather, but it was Clottey who did more damage to his stock. He had less to lose, but more to gain and all he really did was clearly and unequivocally demarcate himself as an incapable challenge to top tier talent.

Some have suggested there isn't really "boxing" after a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, but there is no resolution to the existing tension until the matter is resolved. The interest hasn't damped at all and provided Mayweather does the expected, it's extremely difficult to see where either fighter goes from there save a collision course with one another.

Saturday night one of boxing pound-for-pound kings, Manny Pacquiao, will tangle with Joshua Clottey in one of the biggest events of the boxing year.  While clearly it isn't the clash many were hoping for between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, it is still a very legitimate fight.

Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook chimes in with some thoughts on the event in his very good preview of the fight:

let me get this out of the way: I'm very aware that Joshua Clottey is a very good fighter. I have him ranked No. 5 at welterweight, where the top six is better than any division in boxing, and by a wide margin. There are three pound-for-pound top five guys at the top of this weight class, and the next three (Cotto, Clottey and Berto) aren't anything to shake a stick at either.

I know Clottey fought Margarito hard back when Margarito was steamrolling everyone. I know you can argue that Clottey should have beaten Cotto. I know Clottey beat Zab Judah via technical decision, and also feel that had Judah continued on in that fight, it just would've turned more and more in Clottey's favor.

But Joshua Clottey is not going to beat Manny Pacquiao. He's not going to come close to doing so, either.

Since rising in weight from his brief pit stop at 135 pounds, where he nearly beheaded poor David Diaz, Manny Pacquiao has taken Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto to the woodshed. Each one has gone down spectacularly -- one beaten into retirement, one knocked clean out, and one so overwhelmed he ran out of ring in which to run.

Oscar was old, weight-drained, and a part-time fighter. But Manny beat him so bad, he quit on his stool and looks unlikely to ever return to the ring. Ricky Hatton had never lost at 140 pounds. Then came Manny Pacquiao, who scored an all-time great knockout in just two rounds, flattening the "Hitman" and ending his enjoyable run as one of the sport's true elite. Cotto was in good shape, had a decent gameplan, and then just couldn't keep up. Eventually, Pacquiao wore him down and worked him over.

This is the big problem with the fight and as much as some MMA fans may want to portray this as some incredible waste of Manny Pacquiao, it's him fighting a completely legitimate challenger.  He is just so much better than everyone that it seems like a completely foregone conclusion.  It's still not that dissimilar from a fight like BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar or Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy.  Pacquiao is a special fighter and he is making good fighters look like scrubs.

A huge thing the event has going in it's favor is that there is nothing like big fight atmosphere in boxing.  I'm not saying it's better or worse than big fight atmosphere in MMA, it's just different.  And the atmosphere that this will have in the gigantic Cowboy Stadium should be crazy, or maybe it just comes across as weird and hollow.  Either way, it's something interesting.

On the not so great side of things, in true boxing fashion, the undercard is less than impressive.  In fact, The Boxing Tribune's Dafydd Thomas calls it unacceptable:

Normally, the strength of the main event will carry the PPV numbers, regardless of whoever's fighting on the undercard. But when you've got a bigger headline act fighting just over a month after, with an evenly matched dance partner, for the same amount of dollars, plus a stronger undercard, there should only be one thought in your mind if you don't have the finances. No, not going down to the local bookmakers, but save up for the stronger show.

I'm not trying to be a financial advisor, but that's logic. You'd think that Arum and Trampler would spot the weakness and strengthen it somewhat. But when has Arum put on a decent undercard? He's always been one for cutting costs and maximizing profits, showing 'The Son of the Legend' who needed banned substances to help him against Troy Rowland. But this undercard has crossed the line.

We have a "Contender" loser, two shot to smithereens fighters, an Irishman that's not once looked like a future successor to Kelly Pavlik, and a guy called Michael. That's what you're paying for.

The combat sports fan in me considers any event featuring arguably the best boxer on the planet a must-see, but the logical consumer in me can see many reasons why someone would choose to hold out for the much more compelling main event of Mayweather/Mosley and it's better undercard if you're wanting to give a boxing event a go.

Regardless, tomorrow night's main event should deliver quite a spectacular show.  Either Pacquaio continues to look like one of the most dominant fighters of all time or Joshua Clottey legitimately shocks the world.

Note: Bloody Elbow is an MMA site first, but we focus on all combat sports.  Important news about grappling, boxing, kickboxing and the like has always, and will always be featured on this site.

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