By Esteban Garduno: Former World Boxing Association welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KO’s) will be returning to action after a year out of the ring on May 8th against Roberto Garcia (28-2, 21 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Aguascalientes, in Aguascalientes, Mexico. If things go good for the 32-year-old Margarito in that fight, he could be matched up against either WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao or the winner of the June 5th bout between WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says Margarito really wants to fight Manny Pacquiao and that would be at welterweight. If the Pacquiao fight isn’t there, he might face the winner of the fight between Yuri Foreman and Cotto.” But first Margarito has to get by the 29-year-old Garcia on May 8th. Margarito hasn’t fought in over a year since being stopped in the 9th round by Shane Mosley last year in January. Before the fight with Mosley, a plaster-like material was found on Margarito’s pads over his hands.

The pads were removed and later on Margarito had his boxing license revoked by the California Athletic Commission for a year. Margarito has been eligible to get his license back since February, but instead of reapplying for his license with the California Athletic Commission, he attempted to get it back first with the Texas Athletic Commission so that he could be available to fight on the undercard of the March 13th card involving Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey.

Rafael writers that the Texas Commission wanted to have a hearing about the issue. Arum then opted to put another fighter on the card instead of Margarito. It’s unknown whether Margarito would have been able to get his boxing license back. Technically, his license has been revoked for only one year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a breeze for him to get it back. But in the meantime, Margarito will continue with his boxing career by fighting on May 8th.

The will be held at light middleweight instead of welterweight. This makes sense because Margarito has likely put on some weight in the past year and could find it a struggle to get back down to 147. That would make it easy on Margarito for the short term while he gets his boxing license problem ironed out.

Once that’s taken care of, a fight against either Pacquiao or the winner of the Foreman-Cotto fight will be ideal to get Margarito back in the limelight. The Pacquiao fight is the one that Margarito is hoping for. It’s also a fight that would bring in big numbers if they put it in the Cowboys Stadium.

Margarito is a big draw in the Mexican community and would be able to draw Hispanic boxing fans from all around Texas and nearby Mexico to watch him battle it out with Pacquiao. As for some boxing fans, writers and ex fighters that feel that Margarito should be banned permanently from boxing, if the man has done his time and served his suspension, he should be allowed to come back. It’s only fair.