When it was first announced that Manny Pacquiao's next opponent will be Antonio Margarito, the reaction from most fans was less than enthusiastic. Most importantly it wasn't the fight everyone was initially hoping for, but also Margarito hadn't looked good in his past two appearances. But were those fights really representative of the how Margarito will look in November, and if not, what can we expect to see from him against Pacquiao?
In taking on Roberto Garcia, most thought Margarito looked over the hill at worst and out of sorts at best. He took a comfortable ten round decision against the solid but unspectacular challenger, winning the vacant and also largely arbitrary WBC International light middleweight title in the process, but looked tentative at times despite an early knockdown. On face value it looked as if Margarito turned in a rather pedestrian night's work, but there was perhaps more to it than simply a bad performance.
Part of why he failed to impress can probably be put down to ring rust after taking a year and four months off, the year having been imposed by the California State Athletic Commission. Add this to the fact that he had climbed up to a light middleweight he hadn't fought in for several years and his performance against Garcia begins to look a little better. Prior to the Garcia fight Margarito had fought twice every year since 2000, never taking off more than 10 months in between fights, and last fought at 154lbs in a losing effort to Daniel Santos in 2004, so as battle tested as he is, both circumstances probably effected him to some degree on the night.
Also as his new trainer Robert Garcia attested to after the fight, they were trying out a new strategy in his return bout which saw Margarito using his jab more, being more conservative and accurate with his punches and a little more conscious of his defense. Which as it turns out now was probably a shrewd move, and certainly Garcia was the right opponent to try the new approach out on rather than Pacquiao.
So what can we expect from Margarito this time around?
Will he be the aggressive and often reckless brawler who tries his level best to throw a hundred punches in every round and uses his chin to absorb every bit of return fire, or the slightly more measured boxer we saw against Garcia?
Most likely he will try to box from the offset, and might even win a round or two as Pacquiao works on getting past his jab. With the speed and movement differences being what they are though this probably won't hold up for very long, and Pacquiao will render his reach useless if he can get close enough. The only question then becomes whether or not he can put a dent in the usually iron chin of Margarito.
At a lighter weight Shane Mosley made fairly easy work of Margarito despite his penchant for absorbing punishment, and through his greater speed was quickly able to turn the fight one sided. The big question surrounding that fight though is how focused Margarito could have been given what transpired backstage only moments before the fight started.
Having been found with loaded hand wraps by Mosley's trainer Nazim Richardson, regardless of whether he knew they were there or not, almost certainly affected the way Margarito fought. In the back of his mind he must have known he was going to be suspended or possibly banned for life, which obviously isn't what you should be thinking about during a fight.
Further, the lack of the loaded pads almost certainly affected his confidence as well. If he didn't know they were there, then he must have wondered if his trainer had used them before and if so, how hard he could really hit without them. If he knew they were being used, then he went in knowing his big advantage was missing.
So given that Margarito could be considered something of an unknown quantity, and that this goes for Pacquiao as a light middleweight as well, the fight should be entertaining at the very least.
Tim Stokes, Philly: "After seeing the pictures from the press tour I'm not sure Manny is big enough to hurt Margarito, I think he's going to have serious trouble finishing him"
Peter Bradley, Pittsburgh: "I'd rather have seen Pac vs. JMM III, but Margarito is a much tougher fight for sure. Everyone was ripping into Khan for wanting to fight Marquez, but they accepted it with Pac weirdly"
Source: Examiner.com
