Margarito to fight on May 26th; could get Chavez Jr. bout this fall

By Boxing News - 04/23/2012 - Comments

Image: Margarito to fight on May 26th; could get Chavez Jr. bout this fallBy Dan Ambrose: Antonio Margarito (38-8, 27 KO’s) will be fighting a 10 round bout next month on May 26th at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona. There isn’t an opponent picked out as of yet for the 34-year-old Margarito.

It doesn’t really matter who he faces, because his bout following that one could be a big money fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., according to Dan Rafael.

Chavez Jr. and Margarito both fight for Top Rank, and that’s a fight that Bob Arum has discussed for the past year. At this point, it could be one of the view viable alternatives for Margarito because he doesn’t have too many other options at 154 right now, and there’s nobody else at 160 for him to fight because of the lack of popular fighters at that weight. It’s either Arum match him against Chavez Jr. or else he’s going to have to settle for going after the younger fighters at junior middleweight, who would be using Margarito as a stepping stone. That’s obviously not a good alternative for Margarito or Arum, because who knows how many fights Margarito has left in him at this stage in his career due to his right eye problems and his diminishing hand speed.

Margarito lost his last fight to WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto last December in a 10th round stoppage. Margarito didn’t look all that great in the fight, he did fight will in the 9th round, and there’s a possibility that he could have pulled out the fight in the remaining three rounds if he had been allowed to continue fighting. The ringside doctor halted the fight after the 9th due to the swelling in Margarito’s right eye.

Margarito had his right eye examiner after the fight and no additional was done to the eye. He’s since passed a medical exam on the eye and is clear to continue his career. However, there still is big questions about whether Margarito can take shots without his eye swelling up again.

Arum needs to try and put together a fight between Margarito and Chavez Jr. as soon as possible because it’s hard to say how much Margarito has left in the tank at this stage in his career. He could maybe still beat some of the contenders in the division, but he won’t get much from taking those fights and there’s a good chance he could get beaten.



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