By Eric Thomas: I can’t say I was surprised to learn today that Manny Pacquiao will likely be fighting Antonio Margarito at a 150 pound catch weight for the vacant World Boxing Council junior middleweight title on November 13th at a still to be determined site. While I have no problems with Pacquiao fighting Margarito at a catch weight, since I see that are something that two fighters should be able to do if they want. But I think the WBC title shouldn’t be on the line for the fight. That doesn’t seem right that a fighter can compete for a title when the other fighter is being held back from fighting at the maximum weight for the division.
I know it’s an agreement between those two fighters, but when you have one fighter that has the most power because of his popularity, it puts the weaker fighter in a position where they have to agree or else they don’t get the fight. I think that’s wrong. I’d like to think that Pacquiao would still fight Margarito if he said no to Pacquiao’s catch weight, but I don’t believe it. I think that would probably ruin Margarito’s chances at getting a fight with Pacquiao. I believe that if a fighter doesn’t feel comfortable fighting at a weight without a catch weight being involved, then they shouldn’t be fighting at that weight. They should be fighting at the lower weight. It’s only fair.
That’s why they have different divisions. If you can’t fight someone at the full weight, then perhaps you need to be staying at a lower weight instead of taking on someone at a higher weight division. Margarito is effected in this because the catch weight will keep his weight from going above 150. That benefits Pacquiao, who already has a tremendous advantage in hand speed and movement. When you add in the catch weight along with it, Margarito looks almost doomed to lose. The fight is going to be hard to stomach as it is, because Margarito has looked so average in his last two fights and because of the hand wrap incident.
Why add a catch weight to make it even more of a one-sided affair? It just doesn’t seem right. I think all difference sanctioning bodies need to create a rule for the catch weight bouts and rule that it’s not permitted for them to occur during title fights. With some fighters being a lot more popular than others, they have a huge advantage with the catch weight fights and can move up in weight to beat fighters that they might not otherwise be able to beat without the catch weight. But given their popularity, their opponent isn’t about to say no to them and lose the big payday. I see it as something that breeds unfairness. I hope this is the last catch weight fight that Pacquiao participates in. I don’t want to see Pacquiao, or some other fighter, taking on a middleweight at 155 rather than the full weight for the division.
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