Pacquiao-Clottey Fight to Draw More than 40,000 Fans to Texas

The upcoming boxing match between Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao and former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey of Ghana is expected to draw at least 40,000 boxing fans to the now famous Cowboys Stadium in Arlington Texas on March 13. Latest reports indicate that more than haft of the 40,000 tickets printed to fill up the reconfigured seating of the Cowboys Stadium have been sold out in in just three hours of sales last Saturday. The Cowboys Stadium can seat 100,000 during football games but the place has been reconfigured to take at least 50,000 for the Pacquiao-Clottey boxing event. “Ross Greenburg (president of HBO Sports) and I are very gratified that the public has responded like they have, and we are happy for our partner (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones,” said Bob Arum who was in New York Saturday for the Juan Manuel Lopez-Steven Luevano boxing event at the Madison Square Garden. “It’s going to be quite a night. And Jerry isn’t just a one-event guy. If he sees this as a success you can be sure he’ll do more boxing in that great stadium,” added Arum. According to Arum the seating capacity for the event can be increased to accommodate more fans who want to see the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium and watch the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. Manny Pacquiao who is the current pound-for-pound king and WBO welterweight champion will clash with former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey of Ghana at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on March 13. The Filipino boxer is fresh from his victory over Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto via a 12-round stoppage during their fight last year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao has started training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach in Hollywood California while Clottey has yet to start formal training and has reportedly gone back to Ghana to secure visa for his trainers to travel to the United States. Earlier Clottey's trainers were denied visa by the US Embassy in Ghana.