Joshua Clottey has another reason for pulling out of his scheduled January 16 fight with Michel Rosales. First we heard he was unhappy with the money, which is true, and now he also says it is in part because he considers himself an "HBO fighter," meaning he wasn't going to fight on the FOX Sports-televised event.
Really, the two go hand-in-hand. A fight televised on HBO is more money than a fight televised on FSN. Overall, it's just another case where Clottey does himself no favors. He's kind of tough to market given that he's got very little by way of fanbase, and he's so good that nobody is rushing to fight him in the welterweight division. He's also not particularly exciting; combine that with his lack of drawing power, and Clottey against a mid-level opponent just isn't going to get bought by HBO. Any exposure would be good for him at this point, but he apparently doesn't see it that way, which is too bad.
I don't really know who he thinks he's going to fight on HBO. Shane Mosley and Andre Berto are both tied up, neither Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao are going to fight him, and I'd doubt he gets a Cotto rematch. So who's that leave? Luis Collazo, a Zab Judah rematch (also not going to happen), a possible jump to 154? Kermit Cintron was discussed a bit back, and that didn't come through. Sergio Martinez challenged Clottey, who turned down the fight. His scheduled fight with Carlos Quintana fell through, and Quintana has decided to stay at 154 pounds, too.
If he's looking for an HBO fight, it's going to be another long wait, I fear, but I guess he's comfortable with that. He's turning down stay-busy fights on TV that will pay him.