Dana White

MANILA, Philippines – Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), will be among the spectators at the Dallas Stadium where Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey will trade punches on Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

According to his Twitter account, White is offering “10 pairs of tickets” to 10 lucky winners, whom he will take to Arlington, Texas.

“So check it out,” White said. “You have all been tweetn me about the Pacman fight and knowing how much I love to give tix (tickets) to the REAL fight fans!!!”

White used to be at odds with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum over the competition between boxing and mixed martial arts. But it seems fences would be mended between the two fight promoters because of Pacquiao.

The UFC executive also predicted that Pacquiao will stop the “bigger” Clottey. He, however, admitted that it will be a hard fight for the Filipino champ.

“Clottey is a big, durable, tough guy so it’s gonna take Pacman a few rounds...should be a fun fight! Pacman never disappoints,” he said. “Pacman by KO (knockout) in the 8th!”

Pacquiao is defending his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title against Clottey, who is a former International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion.

Boxing scribes speak their mind

Boxing experts earlier said Pacquiao can fashion out a hard fought win against the durable Ghanaian boxer.

“I think it’s a very interesting fight. I think Manny will win the fight because I think he’s got a lot more speed and a lot more quickness than Joshua does,” said Kevin Iole of Yahoo!Sports.

“A lot of people who aren’t familiar with Joshua Clottey probably think Manny is gonna dominate the fight and while I think Manny wins the fight, I don’t think he dominates,” he added.

Kieran Mulvaney of Reuters echoed Iole’s observation.

“In the early parts of the fight, it’s gonna take Manny a little while just to figure out because he’s (Clottey) a big strong guy. It could cause him some problems. I think ultimately, what will happen is that Manny’s angles, his speed and his footwork and his combinations will be too much,” he said. With a report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News