Margarito’s fight against Abel Perry to be held at middleweight

By Boxing News - 05/25/2012 - Comments

Image: Margarito’s fight against Abel Perry to be held at middleweightBy Dan Ambrose: According to ESPN, former IBF/WBA/WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (38-8, 27 KO’s) will be fighting at middleweight for his next bout against Abel Perry (18-5, 9 KO’s) on July 21st at the Casino Del Sol, in Tucson, Arizona. This is interesting because it’s hard to imagine the slender Margarito fighting middleweight, but he’s filled out somewhat.

Margarito has lost three out of his last four bouts and hasn’t fought since being stopped in the 10th round by Miguel Cotto last December. That fight was held at 154, and Margarito looked good at that weight.

Moving up to the middleweight division could be hard for Margarito because the fighters hit harder and they’re naturally bigger than the guys that Margarito has been facing. And another problem that Margarito has is his surgically repaired right eye. His eye caused him problems in his loss to Cotto, as it swelled up very quickly in the fight and eventually closed on him in the 9th round. The fight was halted after the 9th round by the ringside doctor.

Margarito likely won’t have any problems beating the little known Perry, because this is nothing but a tune up fight for Margarito. He was supposed to have fought Perry on May 26th, but Margarito injured his right Achilles and needed to postpone the fight until July. Margarito has slowed in the last couple of years, and he’s really easy to hit now.

His power isn’t what it once was either and that’s going to be a big problem for him if he’s serious about wanting to move up in weight to the middleweight division. Margarito doesn’t match-up well with guys like Gennady Golovkin and Dmitry Pirog. But what Margarito is likely doing is getting ready for a possible fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next year. Both fighters share the same promoter and it seems like a logical fight.



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