Ahead of Pacquiao fight, is boxing world ready to forget Margarito's past?
At a press conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday Antonio Margarito had a song to sing. It wasn’t loud and abrasive. It was humble and low-key, and asked the world to forget if not to forgive. In a pressed jacket with sophisticated glasses on, he told boxing enthusiasts to forget his past and consider his future. Minus all the huff and haw and controversy that has marred it for the last year.
"I want to thank Bob Arum for making this fight real,” Margarito said, speaking about his 13 November date with Manny Pacquiao. "I have been asking for this fight for a long time. Everything that has happened in the past and we are now in the present. I want to show everyone I’m still a good fighter. Now is the present. Let’s forget about the past.”
Secret admission of guilt or strained publicity stunt cloaked in sincerity?
The boxing world may never know what to make of Margarito's hand wrap controversy.
Margarito continued peppering thanks and praises, moving from the Texas Commission to the WBC. The Texas Commission relicensed him to box after repeated rejections from commissions in California and Nevada. The WBC is sanctioning the fight. They will also be rewarding the vacant WBC junior middleweight title to the winner.
For Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum, that means something historic and new in the boxing world: the chance to win an eighth title in just as many weight divisions.
Posing for pictures, Margarito loomed over the smaller Pacquiao, almost half a head taller. This is what you get when you put a guy who’s fought most of his career at welterweight (147 pounds) and a guy who started out as a junior flyweight (108 pounds).
As is his custom, Pacquiao was respectful and gracious of his opponent at the press conference.
"It is going to be a great, great fight that the people will want to see,” he said. “I believe Margarito has the capabilities to give a good show. He fights impressively, aggressively and he is bigger and stronger than me. It's going to be a great, great fight on November 13.”
In Freddie Roach’s absence, Alex Ariza, who specializes as Pacquiao’s condition trainer, said: "We have a tough fight on our hands...Every (opponent) is bigger and stronger but, ultimately, Manny Pacquiao prevails.”
When asked about Margarito, Ariza concluded that there’s “nothing” despicable about him. He added that the bout looked to be a war, and a candidate for fight of the year.
Robert Garcia, who currently trains Margarito, expressed the customary confidence in his fighter. "Training Margarito is a great experience, he is very dedicated. We go against Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao and Manny is a great fighter, a great champion. But we have a tremendous fighter in Antonio Margarito and we're going to make history."
That much is undeniable. Can it even be imagined what would happen to the boxing world with a Margarito win? That’s a calculation that would all but short-circuit, even explode the current state of things. That might not be a bad thing.
Pacquiao’s agent, Michael Koncz, also added to the chatter. “I want to thank the media but I also want to scold the media,” Koncz said. The claim was a reference to various media outlines responding negatively to Pacquiao’s accepting of Margarito bout.
Koncz was also apparently willing to entertain Margarito’s ‘forgive and forget’ policy, saying: “I think it is absurd [speaking of the condemnation of the bout]. He (Margarito) was suspended and he served his suspension. It's over. If you're not going to support the fight, then don't criticize it."
Whether his plea will be heeded remains doubtful. Most boxing writers, fighters and even promoters such as Oscar De La Hoya have branded Margarito with the mark of Cain for his having attempted to fight with loaded hand wraps against Sugar Shane Mosley, and for having possibly done so against Miguel Cotto. But whether you've forgiven his past or not, a fight with Pacquiao is sure to be the biggest one in the boxing world until Pacman's next bout, and so all eyes will be on both fighters.
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