By Christian Ramos: Nobody wants to see it. Bob Arum doesn’t care. But, unless a miraculous turn of events comes about, Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito are on their way to fighting each other on November 13.
From a boxing point of view, having Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fight next year actually buys the sport another year’s worth of fans and publicity. Think about it, if they fight and Floyd wins, it would be the 6th time Manny Pacquiao was in the ring and did not win. Floyd would go on to be the greatest of this era, and PacMan would be considered to be an overrated and protected fighter. Floyd would then retire and Pacquiao’s buzz is over. If Pacquiao wins, that would buy the sport another year and half with rematches, but sadly, and not taking anything away from the Philippines’ Icon, Manny’s chances are not as great from a technical standpoint. Unfortunately, no matter how much talent the sport has at the moment, and it does have much, the public demand for boxing only cares for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
That being said, what happens if Bob Arum, Team Pacquiao, Golden Boy, and Team Mayweather let this opportunity slip away? What happens if Margarito actually wins? Styles make fights. When have you seen Manny Pacquiao fighting well while moving backwards? He doesn’t. That’s the root of much of the success Juan Manuel Marquez had in both of their encounters. When have you seen Antonio Margarito not fighting forwards applying constant pressure? Even in the Mosley loss, Sugar Shane was not able to walk him down, but outbox and outmaneuver him with lateral movement while peppering him with strong, solid punches. With all of that punishment, Margarito lasted 12 rounds. Pacquiao is not as big as Mosley, and what happens in Margarito is able to handle all that Pacquiao dishes out? He would probably end up eating shots and walking down Manny in a similar manner as he walked down Cotto and Paul Williams in the latter half of their fight, and these men are significantly bigger than PacMan.
I do believe Antonio Margarito has horrifically poor defense. Manny Pacquiao also has tremendous speed and punching accuracy, but how much power would be behind those punches if his body were not moving forward into the punch? Manny is a very small man and would not be fighting a 140 pound Ricky Hatton or a dehydrated Oscar. Margarito is a solid 154. The Cotto win for Pacquiao was very impressive, but Miguel’s pressure is in no way similar to Margarito’s. Margarito is very willing to eat shots to apply his pressure, while Cotto is cautiously looking for the trap. Pacquiao was able to side-step and then move forward into his shots. How realistic is it to believe that Margarito will give him the breathing room?
Have Pacquiao and Arum bitten off more than they can chew? I too am a heavy critic of Margarito landing this fight. He is not an active fighter against the top P4P, and therefore, other top talents such as Bradley, Williams and Martinez should get the opportunity at Pacquiao. This is in no way a prediction of the fight. However, hate him or love him, Margarito has a reasonable shot at winning this fight. The boxing world has criticized, ridiculed, and even hated Margarito for his illegal antics. I would hate to imagine how people were to react if he were to spoil the greatest fight in the sport’s history.
*Side Note: I sure hope that the bad publicity works for Margarito. With all of Margarito’s controversies and Pacquiao’s publicity, if Manny Pacquiao does not manage to sell 1 million Pay per Views, how would he even ask for 50-50 from Mayweather? This fight might actually be a lose/lose situation for Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao.
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