Koncz expects the Pacquiao-Margarito fight to take place in Abu Dhabi

By Boxing News - 07/23/2010 - Comments

Image: Koncz expects the Pacquiao-Margarito fight to take place in Abu DhabiBy Jason Kim: Michael Koncz, the personal adviser for World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, thinks the Pacquiao’s next fight against former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito will be taking place in Abu Dhabi rather than Monterrey, Mexico. Abu Dhabi is the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates, and is a very wealthy city. It’s understandable why Bob Arum of Top Rank would want to have the fight take place there. The taxes would be nonexistent and Pacquiao would do well financially. In an article at Philboxing.com, Koncz pointed out that he had been contacted by the Abu Dhabi group and he’s pretty sure that the Margarito-Pacquiao fight can be made and take place in Abu Dhabi.

You can’t blame Arum, Pacquiao and Koncz if they have to fight take place in Abu Dhabi. However, it will be a problem for fans that want to come see the fight. Unless they have deep pockets and can afford to fly all the way to Abu Dhabi and afford the hotel rates, they’ll have to settle with watching the bout on pay per view.

Miguel Cotto is also being considered as an opponent for Pacquiao to fight next, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to be the one. He was already stopped in the 12th round last year by Pacquiao in November, and it’s just an appealing fight for boxing fans at this early juncture. However, Margarito isn’t exactly an ideal opponent either. He looks like he’ deteriorated a lot in the past two years and hasn’t looked good since beating Cotto two years ago in July 2008.

Arum picked out Margarito and Cotto as the options for Pacquiao to fight here. Since Cotto already got destroyed less than a year ago by Pacquiao, it’s probably reason enough for him not to be selected by Arum this time. Besides, it looks as if Arum is trying to rebuild Cotto after the Pacquiao loss. Cotto was put in with the light hitter Yuri Foreman in his last fight. Cotto had little problem beating him.



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