By Jim Dower: In the latest boxing news, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is positioning former IBF welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) to replace undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a fight against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) if the mega fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather doesn’t take place. Pacquiao, Arum and trainer Freddie Roach have been exerting pressure on Mayweather in the media recently about him not agreeing to a fight after Pacquiao agreed to the 14 day cutoff for the Olympic style blood tests that Mayweather had previously asked during their negotiations in few months ago.
Margarito, apparently, is looking like Arum’s number #1 backup plan for a fight against Pacquiao. It’s unclear whether Arum will still be interested in using Margarito if he’s unable to get his boxing license reinstated in the United States, as Arum would like to put the Margarito-Pacquiao fight in the Cowboys Stadium, in Texas, where he could, at the minimum, draw at least 50,000 fans possibly more for a fight between two Top Rank fighters. Arum must feel pretty confident that he’ll be able to get Margarito’s boxing license back in Texas, because otherwise this would seem kind of pointless to even have him as a backup.
It’s unknown if Arum would still be interested in putting Pacquiao in with Margarito if he fails to get his boxing license back. This would mean that the fight would have to take place in Mexico. It would still sell well there, but there would much less boxing fans from the United States willing to trek that far to see the fight. Putting it in Texas is bad enough for many fans, but having it take place in Mexico would likely be too far for many but the most diehard fans to go to see Pacquiao fight.
Beyond Margarito, Arum is also interested in putting Pacquiao in with the winner of the June 5th fight between WBA light welterweight champion Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto. Both fighters are with Arum’s Top Rank company, which is a win-win for him by putting him in with Pacquiao. It’s not exactly the most appealing idea to have Pacquiao fight Cotto again after having beaten him badly in a one-sided 12th round knockout last November, but it’s highly possible that Cotto or Foreman will get the call for a fight against Pacquiao if the Mayweather or Margarito fights can’t be put together for Pacquiao.
A fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is possible, but it would likely require for Pacquiao to agree to the random blood testing that Mayweather wants. Pacquiao thus far has been resistant to taking the full random blood tests because he feels that the tests weaken him afterwards.
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