Former world champion, Joshua Clottey has mentioned ace actor Majid Michel as a witness to the stomach upset he experienced prior to his fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2010.
In the aftermath of Clottey’s unanimous defeat to Pacquaio, news reports emerged that the Ghanaian had attributed a meal he ate ahead of the bout as the cause of his defeat.
According to the narrative, Clottey mentioned that he could have won the fight had he not taken the meal.
In an interview with Ernest Brew Smith on his YouTube channel, Clottey clarified that incident, blaming the media for supposedly twisting his words.
He cited ace actor Majeed Michel as a witness to the incident and revealed some interesting background stories about the fight.
“I never said that I ate Banku and okro. Majeed Michel will confirm that I had a very bad running stomach. Whenever we had a fight, my girlfriend prepared Okro stew and banku because it helped in gaining weight after the weighing.
"Prior to that fight, a certain woman promised to prepare okro stew for me. She prepared the stew and gave it to me in the hotel. I had to shed a lot of weight after the weighing I decided to eat a lot of things to regain my weight. I had lost weight badly so I quickly needed a fix.
“Apparently you don’t have to take okro stew after you’ve taken a lot of sugary stuff but I didn’t know. I took it and it affected me but I didn’t tell anyone that it was due to the okro stew that I lost”, he said.
Clottey in an interview with Graphic Sports last year spoke of his dreams of re-match with Manny Pacquiao who has now retired from the sport.
“I threw up but it's not because of the okro, but it might weak you before you fight because you can get running stomach all day. The main story why l lost was because of the 33% purse my manager took,” Clottey explained.
Former world champion, Joshua Clottey