When he was still an active boxer, Joshua Clottey revealed that Richard Gutierez as his most challenging opponent.
Speaking on Prime Take on the JoyNews Channel with Muftawu Nabila Abdulai, Clottey, who competed from 1995 to 2019 and won the IBF Welterweight title in 2008 said opponent such us Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Zab Judah did not give him a difficult task.
“My most difficult fight was against [Richard] Gutierez; it is not [Antonio] Margarito, it is not [Miguel] Cotto, it was Gutierez,” he said
“After the fight, I could not cough because my ribs were affected.
“The guy really worked on me. He hit me so hard to the extent I peed blood, pure red blood when I got back to my hotel.”
The fight would change his perception about his choice of career, but it was the breakthrough he needed to make money in the sport of his passion.
“I said after the fight that this game is a not a joke. It was really tough,” he recalled.
Clottey’s majority decision win that launched him towards his first world title shot five months later — a unanimous points loss against American-Mexican, Antonio Margarito, for the WBO welterweight title.