So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on Saturday. Previously: why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters; how good is Clottey?; and keys to the fight, part I. Next: the undercard.

How Pacquiao (above left) and Clottey (above right) match up could be more telling than who's the overall better fighter. Today, we'll look at how they stack up physically, as well as how they stack up in the more mental aspects of boxing. First up was the physical. Now: The mental.

So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on Saturday. Previously: why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters; how good is Clottey? Next: Keys to the fight, part II.

How Pacquiao (above left) and Clottey (above right) match up could be more telling than who's the overall better fighter. Today, we'll look at how they stack up physically, as well as how they stack up in the more mental aspects of boxing. First up: The physical.

So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on March 13, culminating in a live blog on fight night. Previously: Why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters. Next: Keys to the fight.

Everyone knows Manny Pacquiao. Not everyone knows Joshua Clottey, the man Pacquiao is fighting Saturday.

Clottey (above left against Miguel Cotto, photo by Howard Schatz) has a very good reputation, for the most part. Some boxing writers consider him one of the 20 best boxers of today, and he's one of the top men in the welterweight division, clearly. He caught some flack for his showing at the end of the fight against Cotto, but there are a lot of people who thought he got robbed in that bout. And it wasn't that long ago that there was a highly viable theory that Clottey was underrated, the best fighter in the division not to be recognized as one of the best.

Yet the more I look at Clottey, the less convinced I am. I'd had that thought prior to Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach saying the same thing in the "Road to Dallas" documentary that aired Saturday (I swear! Ask the people I hung out with Saturday night, away from the television, when the documentary was airing). But that Roach said it made me feel confident about it, too. I think Clottey has become overrated.

So begins our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2010, Manny Pacquiao versus Joshua Clottey on March 13, culminating in a live blog on fight night. Today: Why and how Pacquiao-Clottey matters. Next: How good is Clottey?

It's always a good thing when the world's best boxer, who doubles as its most electrifying performer, is fighting. It's all the better when he's fighting a quality opponent. Those are the circumstances Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view when the pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao, locks horns with dangerous Joshua Clottey, ranked #5 by Ring magazine in the top-heavy welterweight division.

Yet despite those conditions... despite the good match-up, which likely will produce nice action... despite the sui generis backdrop of a Cowboys Stadium that will host 45,000 screaming fans... despite the likelihood that Pacquiao-Clottey will be a pay-per-view smash... it feels a touch anticlimatic. It's because March 13 was originally the date booked for what would have been the biggest fight in 20 years or more, Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather.

And you can say all you want, "Why don't we all just move on, already?" Ring magazine's Mike Rosenthal suggested the same thing in a recent column, then twice more mentioned Mayweather-Pacquiao in that same column. Fans of Pacquiao are constantly saying in comments on this blog, "Who cares about Mayweather?" But Pacland, the all-Pacquiao-all-the-time news hub, still lights up with Mayweather-centric articles. And some Filipino news outlets recently had a dust-up with Mayweather's flak over whether they could interview Mayweather about the drug-testing feud that derailed Mayweather-Pacquiao.

So let's consider what Pacquiao-Clottey is, and what it isn't.

Here's something that makes people take notice in the boxing world: When a boxer knocks out a world-class opponent who has a reputation for being impervious to harm. Last year, Shane Mosley and Lucian Bute knocked out the seemingly indestructible Antonio Margarito and Librado Andrade, respectively. Junior welterweight Devon Alexander pulled the same trick Saturday against Juan Urango, knocking down the gritty Colombian with an uppercut that sent him flying in the 8th then putting him down again in the same round, forcing the referee to waive off the fight.

I've been a big believer in Alexander as a future star, even if I haven't gone as far as the biggest Alexander backer of them all, ESPN's Dan Rafael, who recently compared Alexander's talent to that of Floyd Mayweather. But he far exceeded my expectations this evening, and I'm betting the Alexander bandwagon is going to get a little fuller after this performance. We're talking about a serious talent here.

FAIRFAX, VA. -- Junior middleweight Jimmy Lange was headed toward a possible big-money fight with John Duddy in what would have been a showdown of regional attractions in the DC and NYC areas. But Chase Shields, who was defeated in his last fight by over-the-hill journeyman J.C. Candelo, had other ideas. In Lange's backyard, he scored a unanimous decision win, 115-111 across the board. I had Lange winning, actually, but I was in the minority -- then again, it was a wacky fight, with the lights going out for five-plus minutes, a couple fights in the stands, some innovative fouling and widespread confusion over what round it was at one point.

It was a great show, from top to bottom, attended by an official 5,000+ but what looked like closer to 3,000 to most of us ringside. Local boxing luminaries Riddick Bowe, Paul Williams and DeMarcus Corley were in attendance, but I didn't do what I do sometimes when I go to local shows and try to interview people -- I was there trying to enjoy the show as much as anything, and sometimes it requires some stressin' to do interviews and what not. So I hung out with Twitter pal @nazarioz and marveled at the ring card girl who did double duty singing the national anthem (quite well, too) and wondered why Lange gets three ring entrance songs instead of one or two (and a confetti cannon!) and paid particular attention to the main three fights of the eight-card bout.

This time I successfully set my DVR for Friday Night Fights, unlike last week. I went out to see "Alice in Wonderland," and given my appreciation for Tim Burton and the source material, I had high hopes. I hated it hated it hated it. It was so by-the-numbers for recent sci-fi/fantasy movies I practically walked out: Here's the epic battle scene! Here's the catchphrase uttered at the climax! Here's the stirring score as the heroine rides a creature as part of the big quest! Here are the doubts about whether the heroine is "the one!" Here's the flying creature that makes the exact screeching noise as all the other monsters and here's the big mean creature that roars in the heroine's face! (I guess it's good that there was a strong heroine, and that the movie was quite lovely to behold in spots, but that's no saving grace.)

But you don't come here for movie reviews. To the ESPN2 action, which was marked by a pretty good if one-sided brawl in the main event and a look at a couple talented youngsters:

No Quick Jabs column this week. There just isn't anything much going on that I haven't written about. Here's the grand total, other than the most minor of minor tidbits:

• Lou DiBella says Don King's team did some underhanded business and now light heavyweight Tavoris Cloud won't be fighting Glen Johnson on his April 10 show. King rejects the idea that anything funny is going on. I'm inclined to believe DiBella. I'm inclined to believe Cloud can't stop making bad decisions about his promising career. Meanwhile, the featherweight bout between Celestino Caballero and Daud Yordan will replace that fight, and it's an excellent replacement. In other light heavyweight news, we have to wait until August for Chad Dawson-Jean Pascal.
• Old boxer James Toney is moving to the UFC. I don't think his mixed martial arts career will last long at all. As long as it takes someone to put some kind of hold on him. It saddens me to see this happening, and if the UFC argues it got anything more than a "freak show" by signing a boxing legend past his prime, I don't know who they're fooling.

(Floyd Mayweather, left, Shane Mosley, right. Photo: Ed Mulholland, via Fightnews)

Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley hit three cities in three days for the press in advance of their long-awaited May 1 welterweight showdown, filling up news stories with hype and anecdotes that offer opportunities for trite analysis and pop psychology. I'm not about to pass up those opportunities.

Saturday's like the sound a soda can makes upon opening. It marks the return of consistently world class boxing to the airwaves, when Devon Alexander and Juan Urango duel on HBO in arguably the deepest division in the sport, junior welterweight. And I say this knowing full well, by the way, that this fight stands a 90 percent chance of blowing. We've had some good scraps to kick off 2010, but rarely have they been particularly meaningful. I need my vitamins to go along with my candy, and there have been a lot of empty calories to go around, so Alexander-Urango hits the spot. And it gets my love besides for kicking off a good stretch of boxing that runs nearly every weekend through June.

Separately, Alexander and Urango are capable of producing good fights to accompany their wholly different kinds of talent. Alexander is one of the most gifted youngsters in the sport, a complete boxer and true blue chipper who's already climbed to #4 in the division's rankings at age 23. When Alexander is aggressive and has an opponent willing to engage him, he puts on enjoyable exhibitions of the sweet science. Urango likes nothing more to engage. Urango is a gritty banger who sits at #6, and he makes very exciting fights when he gets an opponent who will stand in front of him and swaps leather. When he doesn't get that kind of opponent, he is only in ugly fights. Alexander and Urango are probably going to get ugly.

[The next round of the TQBR Prediction Game starts with this fight. Join in here, and don't forget the rules.]