By Jim Dower: Former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) opted to reapply for his lost boxing license on Wednesday with the California Athletic Commission rather than taking a second attempt with the Nevada Athletic Commission, who already rejected Margarito’ licensing try earlier this month by a 4-1 vote. Margarito is attempting to get his boxing license back so that he can fight Manny Pacquiao in the United States on November 13th for the vacant World Boxing Council junior middleweight title. Margarito lost his boxing license a year ago when the same California Commission revoked his boxing license shortly after a plaster-like substance was found on Margarito’s hand wraps before his bout against Shane Mosley in January 2009.

In an article by the LA Times, Bob Arum, the promoter for Margarito and Pacquiao, said “We’ve asked for this to be heard on an expedited basis.” Arum would like to get the answer – whether yes or no – from the California Athletic Commission as soon as possible so that he can start looking at applying to the Nevada Athletic Commission or the Texas and New Jersey Athletic Commissions.
When Margarito was rejected by the Nevada Athletic Commission, he was told by them to go back to the California Commission before coming back to them.

Arum seems confident that he’ll be able to get Margarito’s boxing license back in the end, saying “Half a dozen states have said they will grant us [Margarito] a license without a decision by California.” Arum, however, would really like for the Pacquiao vs. Margarito bout to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, because of the gambling money that the fight would bring into the city. It’s hard to imagine that the Nevada Commission will reject Margarito a second time, even if the California Commission says no to him. Margarito-Pacquiao means big money for the states of Nevada, and they could use the money that the Pacquiao-Margarito fight would bring to the city and state.

Ideally, Arum would have been better to have chosen another opponent for Pacquiao to fight rather than Margarito. He’s someone that because of the hand wraps issue looked down upon by many boxing fans. Arum probably could have easily found a more appealing opponent for Pacquiao than Margarito. However, Arum doesn’t have a lot of options in his Top Rank stable, so that’s one of the problems. There’s really only Margarito and Miguel Cotto, who Pacquiao already beat last year by a 12th round knockout in November, to match against Pacquiao.