Eric Gay / AP

Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, left, and Joshua Clottey, right, from Ghana do the traditional stare-down during their pre-fight weigh-in on Friday.

Clottey, a native of Ghana who lives in New York City, was picked as an opponent largely on the basis of his fight last June against Cotto. Most believe he was winning that bout before inexplicably backing off in the last few rounds. He throws a lot of punches and has a strong chin, but his style of standing in front of an opponent seems perfectly suited to Pacquiao’s frenetic pace of punching.

“He is what he is. Let’s face it. He fights the same way in every tape I watch,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. “Whether he fights southpaws or right-handers, he is predictable. He’s good at what he does, but he does the same thing over and over again and he is very predictable. He’s going to try to change for this fight, but once he gets in he will revert back to it.”

Clottey (35-3) faces the additional challenge of fighting without his usual trainer, whose visa issues kept him out of the country. But he’s quietly confident he can rise to the occasion, hoping to use his excellent defense to thwart Pacquiao.

“It’s the key to the fight because he throws a thousand punches,” Clottey said. “Everybody that he’s fought, when he throws a thousand punches, they’ve all landed. When I’m blocking mine, I’m going to see how he’s going to think.”

If Pacquiao wasn’t enough to sell this promotion, Arum and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have combined to promote the $1.2 billion stadium as an attraction of its own. Boxing has been done in stadiums over the years, of course, but this may be the first time even those in the cheap ($50) seats will have a good view of the action.

Jones wanted to host a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, and was bitterly disappointed when it couldn’t be made. But his investment in this fight could have a big payoff for future fights.

“It didn’t take me long to make my mind up that somehow, some way, we wanted to have Manny fighting here,” Jones said. “I made my mind up in building this stadium I was not going to be associated with anything but the best.”

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