By Chris Williams: Glen Tapia (7-0, 5 KO’s), one of Manny Pacquiao’s many sparring partners, think he’s going to stop Antonio Margarito in the 5th round of their bout next month on November 13th. In an article at Philstar.com, the 20-year-old Tapia practically gushes about Pacquiao’s power and ability, saying “For me I think it’s like the fifth. Manny’s not going let him (Margarito) start. He’s going to pop him, pop him, pop him, and it’s going to be done by the time he gets started. It’s going to be a Mosley-Margarito just times 20.”

Oh brother. I think Tapia is getting a little carried away with himself here. I think Pacquiao is going to win too, but I certainly don’t think it’s going to be as easy as the way Tapia makes it sound. The way he describes it, Pacquiao is going to slice through Margarito like he’s another Ricky Hatton. Margarito isn’t another Hatton.

Other than his loss to Shane Mosley where Margarito looked like he hadn’t trained hard for that fight, he’s always very tough and usually beats up his opponents. I suspect Pacquiao will stop him but not before taking a lot of punishment along the way.

I see Pacquiao getting hit much more than he did in the Joshua Clottey fight. Tapia is pretty young and I don’t blame him for siding with Pacquiao, but he steps away and get some perspective before making a prediction like that. It would help if Tapia had at least sparred with Margarito so he would have a good frame of reference.

Tapia says this about Margarito: “He hits hard and he’s a very dirty fighter. He’s a very aggressive fighter. But he’s too slow for Manny. He takes time and he takes too long to start.”

Margarito is also a lot bigger than Pacquiao, and that’s something that Tapia failed to mention. Having a fighter that big with a much longer reach and with good power hammering Pacquiao all night long, he could take a lot of punishment before he eventually wins the fight. I think Tapia has no clue what he’s talking about when summing up this fight.