By Chris Williams: To no great surprise, the WBC has sanctioned the November 13th bout between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito for the vacant World Boxing Council junior middleweight title according to the latest boxing news. This means that the winner of this fight will now be the new WBC junior middleweight champion, despite Pacquiao having never fought at this weight and Margarito having fought only once in the past six years. Instead of the fight taking place at the normal 154 pound limit, there will be a 151 pound catch weight for the fight. How in the heck is this fight being sanctioned by the WBC if it’s not going to be at the full weight? They need to put some kind of asterisk next to the title to show that it wasn’t at the full weight.
This is crazy. Pacquiao is going to fight for the 154 pound title but will get a handicap of 151 pounds. That handicap certainly won’t help Margarito and that’s why I don’t see how it’s allowed for a title fight.
I have no idea why Margarito was pushed to the number #1 ranking in the division with only one fight at that weight and I also can’t understand how Pacquiao can be allowed to fight for the title with zero fights at that weight. What about the top contenders that are being skipped over like Alfredo Angulo, Shane Mosley and Kermit Cintron. You would think that at least one, if not all, rate higher for this fight that Pacquiao and Margarito. At least they’ve fought at this weight in the past. It just makes me not respect the rankings when I see fighters getting shots for belts that they have no previous experience in that weight class.
God, I wish Sergio Martinez hadn’t vacated the WBC title, but then again if he hadn’t, there wouldn’t likely be any interest by Margarito and Pacquiao in fighting him. Martinez is the real deal at 154 and no joke. I can’t see either Margarito or Pacquiao beating a guy like that. Margarito may have beaten a very young Martinez at the very start of his career a decade ago but I see Martinez as worlds better than Margarito right now. Maybe the winner of the Pacquiao-Margarito fight will take on Martinez? I’m not holding my breath on that one happening.
It doesn’t matter if Martinez comes down to the 154 pound weight; I still don’t see that happening. Martinez has a way of making fighters look bad and dominating them and I can’t see a little 5’6” Pacquiao being able to win any rounds against Martinez. If Pacquiao went life and death against Juan Manuel Marquez twice, with a lot of people thinking Marquez should have won both fights, then a fighter like Martinez would probably do a number on Pacquiao. I don’t even consider Margarito as being competition for Martinez at this point.
At any rate, Pacquiao and Margarito will now be fighting for the vacant WBC 154 pound title on November 13th at the Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
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