Manny Pacquiao v Antonio Margarito
The pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is back in business this weekend when he faces Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC light-middleweight title.
November 13th was supposed to be the date the little Filipino was set to fight Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Obviously that fight didn’t come to be and so we are left with this quite frankly disappointing bout instead.
Margarito was banned for a year after the hand wrap scandal so it is pretty disgraceful that he is allowed straight back in for a multi-million dollar shot against one of the most famous athletes on the planet. Only in boxing could that happen.
Still it is happening regardless and it should be at least a semi-interesting match-up on some levels. The most interesting aspect is that Pacman is on for potentially his 10th title at his eighth different weight, which would be simply phenomenal.
First he will have to get through Margarito, who certainly has something to prove. The Mexican holds a record of 45 fights, 38 wins with 27 by knock out and six defeats. How valid that record is is certainly questionable following the hand wrap unpleasantness. He was awful against Shane Mosley, which was the bout where his cheating was discovered he was notably less destructive with his punches, which is no surprise really.
It makes his whole career questionable, analysis of his record shows that he lost to three nobodies in his first 12 fights, before embarking on career that took him to the elite, which is a bit strange.
You can’t deny that the Tijuana-born fighter has a solid chin, but he may as well lead with it against Pacquiao because he is going to have little else going for him against the fleet fisted Filipino.
Everyone knows about Pacquiao, he possesses the quickest hands of anybody in boxing today. His foot work is superb, he is slick, he punches hard and defensively he is not easily rattled.
Pacquiao will come out and attack Margarito from the start. Hopefully it will be closer to his fight against Miguel Cotto than his last against Joshua Clottey which was a fairly drab affair. Pacman has so much hype around him that the pressure is on to put in a show stopping performance every time he steps foot in the ring but increasingly he is turning his attentions away from fighting to concentrate on other ventures.
When Pacman is at his destructive best he can walk through anyone, the big question here is how will he deal with this step up in weight? Don’t forget Pacquiao was a light-flyweight when his career began but he can only go so far or he will pop. The more muscle he puts on the less freely he will be able to move and the more of his aura he will lose.
It will probably be a tough test against Margarito, but once again Pacman should be able to gobble up his opponent.
Prediction: Pacquiao unanimous decision
This should be straightforward, Margarito can’t cope with Pacquiao’s speed, he can’t keep up with him on any level, but he has a decent chin and is more of a natural at this weight class.
If Pacquiao repeats his performance he put in against Clottey then it should come down to points but Pacquiao should win every single round and is more than capable of knocking out a fighter of Margarito’s calibre.
Pacquiao will be throwing out heavy combinations and Margarito is going to take some serious shots. He may have come back into boxing with a plumb fight in terms of money, but it’s going to hurt.
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