By Ryan Watson: Unless you’ve been living under a rock all week, you’ll know that tonight Filipino fighting-machine Manny Pacquiao takes on all action war-horse Antonio Margarito for the WBC Light Middleweight title. Both fighters will be entering the ring with very different motives and the fight itself is surrounded by various plots and sub-plots. With Floyd Mayweather in the distance and Miguel Cotto at ringside, there will be a lot at stake on Saturday night.

Notorious boxing cheat Antonio Margarito will see this match up as an opportunity to clear his name. His logic is, if he defeats who many are calling lb4lb No.1 without wearing loaded gloves, then by default all of his other wins must have been genuine (in particular the Miguel Cotto fight). Although personally this writer believes they cannot have been (why would he load them against Mosley and not against Cotto, when Cotto beat Mosley?). Nevertheless, ‘Tony’ getting the victory tonight that he so desperately craves will give him the redemption he’s been looking for.

The man mentioned above and victim to both warriors is Miguel Cotto, who will be sitting a mere few yards away when the action takes place. Although the Puerto Rican will be watching both men do battle, he’ll be keeping a particularly close eye on one of them – Antonio Margarito. Win or lose he’ll want to fight the Mexican, to set the record straight and prove to the world but more importantly to himself, that he lost that night because ‘Tony’ had concrete in his gloves. Margarito not only ended Cotto’s undefeated record but made him quit. Unlike a knockout where the defeated go out on their shield, Margarito broke his heart, and the proud champion had his deep rooted confidence broken. But by rematching Antonio and avenging his loss, he will prove to himself that it was the loaded gloves that caused him to surrender and not a superior fighter. Effectively, we will see the old Miguel Cotto restored and he will wear his cloak of invincibility once more.

Aside from all this is the one pressing issue which makes all else fade into insignificance. When the final bell rings is when it’s Larry Merchant’s queue, “Manny, will you fight Floyd Mayweather?”

The long overdue superfight that is Pacquiao–Mayweather will come under the spotlight once again. And after Manny gives Margarito a 12 round pummelling they’ll be no where else for him to go, except challenge the only man that might be able to beat him. The situation will arise on Saturday night, with the eyes of the world on Manny Pacquiao, the bright Vegas lights shining down and when Larry shoves that mic in his face we should expect a very big response from the Pacman.

So Saturday night isn’t as predictable as we all believed but will have knock on effects that will ripple throughout the boxing world and come November 14th, we should be the closest we’ve ever been to seeing Mayweather–Pacquiao!