Antonio Margarito is at a crossroads of his career. Disgraced, banished and for the most part forgotten, the once violent force people knew as the 'The Tijuana Tornado' was reduced to a whimper after his devastating loss to Shane Mosley in January of 2009, and even more devastating year-long suspension from boxing after getting caught with illegal handwraps. Let's be honest here; Margarito wouldn't have been tapped to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13 if he weren't a Top Rank fighter.
Consider this Bob Arum's biggest daylight robbery in recent memory. But hey, from a business standpoint, you got to give it to Arum for pulling this one off. He's getting all he could get out of a fallen stock and ironically, as much as we all know this isn't the best match-up Arum and crew could've gotten Manny Pacquiao, this might very well end up as the highest selling fight of the year. Call it savvy. Call yourself suckers. But you can also credit Pacquiao's history of providing action-packed and entertaining fights as well and Margarito's come-forward-warrior-like-fighting-style that has endeared him to Mexican fans and boxing fans in general as he's provided wars every time he steps in the boxing ring.
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If Margarito's 6-1 betting underdog status isn't enough to indicate how the public perceives his title fight against Pacquiao will go, only thing anyone has to do is research the early returns from boxing experts regarding their predictions for this fight. If I may cut to the chase, nobody truly believes Margarito will beat Pacquiao. Moreso, a lot of people expect the 'Pound for Pound King' to knockout Margarito or batter him in a 12-round unanimous decision win.
When Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach told Max Kellerman during his Face-off segment on HBO that he thinks Pacquiao will knock Margarito out in under 8 rounds, Margarito responded with an annoyed grin and looked to his corner man Roberto Garcia and uttered, "What does he see me, crippled or something?" Uhmm, I guess more like a proverbial piñata. Roach shot back saying he based his statement on seeing how Margarito fought in his last couple of fights. The consensus belief is that Margarito is a prodding and flat-footed target for the lighting fast Pacquiao all night long.
A lot of boxing fans assume and believe that Margarito has been using loaded wraps prior to fighting Shane Mosley and without them, he is simply a regular puncher. In his last fight against Roberto Garcia in Mexico last May, Margarito was only able to squeeze a 10-round UD after coming off sensational KO and TKO wins over Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto prior to losing to Mosley. At the time, Margarito was ranked anywhere from #3 to #5 in most publications' top pound for pound boxer list. Today, most boxing fans just want to see him get beat up in a poetic justice type of manner, and who better to do that than the sport's biggest and most likeable protagonist in Pacquiao?
Source: Examiner.com
