Would Margarito have gotten the fight with Pacquiao if he hadn’t lost to Mosley?

By Boxing News - 10/12/2010 - Comments

By Dave Lahr: I can’t help thinking the main reason why Antonio Margarito was selected as an opponent for Manny Pacquiao was because of Margarito’s loss to Shane Mosley in 2009. Margarito looked about as bad as a fighter can look in that fight. What boxing fans don’t realize is that win was a fluke thing and not something that Mosley would ever be able to duplicate against a motivated, non-weight drained and in shape Margarito.

That fight was one where Margarito never mentally ready for because he hadn’t trained hard enough and had troubles with his weight. He was forced to melt down a ton of weight in the last weeks of the training camp just to get down to 147.

You could see how weak and listless Margarito was almost immediately in the fight as he didn’t look anything like his normal self and was bullied by the 37-year-old Mosley. Margarito wasn’t helped any that his hand wraps were discovered to have a plaster-like material before the fight.

That also likely had a big effect on the fight. Instead of boxing fans being aware that this was Margarito under the worst possible conditions, they think Margarito is shot or they think he lost because he didn’t get to fight with his loaded hand wraps.

Both of those theories are wrong. Margarito lost because he wasn’t in shape and didn’t have the proper motivation going into the fight. Margarito has the motivation now and he is in shape and ready to take Pacquiao apart on November 13th.

I really think Margarito was selected because they think he’s shot and has lost his effectiveness. Margarito is going to prove them all wrong by giving Pacquiao a vicious beating that he won’t forget.



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