Margarito Gets Back in Line By Steve Kim (Nov 7, 2007) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback Antonio Margarito figured that he and Miguel Cotto would be fighting in the same building some time this year. Only he planned on facing the Puerto Rican star at Madison Square Garden in New York instead of performing on his undercard, as Cotto faces Shane Mosley instead this Saturday night. Early this year it was basically signed and sealed that Margarito would finally get his long-awaited marquee matchup against a big name foe. Unfortunately, it wasn't delivered, as his management and Top Rank would haggle over a contract extension and Cotto would eventually fight Zab Judah in June and Margarito would defend his WBO welterweight belt against his mandatory, Paul Williams. In the midst of all this, both sides would go to court, but full-blown litigation was avoided when it was agreed that after facing Williams - if he should win - Margarito would eventually face Cotto, with certain financial terms and contractual promises built in. But what do they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Margarito would be tripped up by Williams in mid-July, and his assignment to face Cotto would then go to Mosley. On Saturday night, 'The Tijuana Tornado' will face veteran Golden Johnson, and the course that was taken by Margarito and his representatives mystified Bob Arum. "Particularly since we had gone over all the terms, it was a big purse and it was a fight that he regarded as a winnable fight," said the promoter. "This fight (with Williams), they took it, and I could never figure out why. Then we had to go to court and finally get some sense once we were in court. The kid was the one that made them settle the case." In looking back on his loss, Margarito would say through his co-manager, Francisco Espinoza, "I lost my title and it hurts, but that particular night he wasn't better than me. But it was his night." Margarito does acknowledge that he may have started too slow and wasn't active enough in his punch output. "It was a total mistake that I didn't throw enough punches in the early rounds and I'm conscious of that. But I'm not going to repeat those mistakes anymore," he would say. The loss to Williams was a bitter disappointment, one that stuck with the fighter for some time. "It hurt a lot, it took a while," admitted Margarito. "I still remember to this day and it hurts. But right now, at this particular moment, I'm very motivated." That remains to be seen. The question is, how will he react to merely being a bit player on the undercard after having the chance to be the co-star on this pay-per-view card? But it's simple; he can't just win, he has to dominate an opponent that most pundits feel is a bit long in the tooth. A loss would be catastrophic to his career. "He knows for sure that this particular fight he has to be the winner. According to our promoter, he keeps telling us that he might take the winner (of Mosley-Cotto). He hasn't assured that but I'm pretty sure Bob Arum's going to do something. I've been hearing him say a lot that he might fight Cotto," Espinoza would say. Arum says that Margarito is in line to face the Mosley-Cotto winner. A fight with Cotto would be easy to make since they are both under the Top Rank umbrella. But you get the sense that the winner of the December 8th bout between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather would be a strong candidate to face Saturday night’s victor. But Arum says, "Well, if it’s Hatton, he's going to fight Oscar. And if it's Mayweather, he ain't fighting anybody!!! I mean that's the biggest fraud in the history of boxing!!! But he's a good businessman, everybody’s proven him right." It's Margarito's opinion that Mosley will beat Cotto, but says, "It doesn't matter who's going to be the winner right there. The main thing is if they're going to give me the opportunity to fight either Mosley or Cotto. We'll be ready for either one of them." But he has to be a bit chagrined that on Saturday night, he'll be watching Mosley face Cotto, knowing that he had a deal on the table to face him. While he got paid well for facing Williams (over $1.6 million), that bout, in many respects, was a no-win situation for him. And he ended up losing the fight, his belt and his bout with Cotto. "It really doesn't bother me to tell you the truth," he claimed. "I'm going to get my chance and I'm still requesting my chance. Hopefully, everything’s going to be okay on my fight and hopefully it'll put me in place to fight either Mosley or Cotto." So is there a chance that all he lost was a few months on his career with a loss on his ledger? "He's not going to get the same amount to fight Cotto as he would've gotten then; he was the champion," Arum would point out. "So it wasn't a good decision. But never look back, always look forward." LATE REPLACEMENT Promoter Gary Shaw has told Maxboxing that Danny Santiago will now face Antonio Tarver as part of the Showtime tripleheader that caps off their year in 2007. "After this debacle with Danny Green we're down to less than a month to find an opponent that's in training and can fight," explained Shaw. "What interested me about Santiago was that Tarver, everyone saw his fight with Muriqi, and everyone had some opinion. He (Santiago) knocked out Muriqi. So based on that, I thought it would be a good fight. "There are not a lot of guys with 26 days to go that you can get in the ring. Believe me, we looked." But from a possible showdown in late September with WBC king Chad Dawson to now facing Santiago is a huge letdown, especially on the heels of Tarver facing Elvir Muriqi back in June - which was supposed to be a prelude to a bout with Dawson. This card also includes Vernon Forrest and Nonito Donaire in bouts they are heavily favored to win. Not exactly Showtime's strongest broadcast. And the common denominator has been Tarver in both June and December. While Dawson seems more than willing, will those two just keep circling each other? "No, I don't think they'll circle one another," states Shaw. "I have plans with Al Haymon (Tarver's adviser) and I think the plans we have are good for boxing, are exciting fights, and will eventually lead to the king of the 175-pound division. Look, Joe Calzaghe is a very, very good fighter. I saw him tear Jeff Lacy apart, no question. I saw him give Mikkel Kessler a lesson. That doesn't mean that at 175 pounds he's still the same Joe Calzaghe. "One thing about boxing is that we're very quick to tear people down or to anoint them. I think there's a process. I don't think Hopkins or Calzaghe are the two best 175-pounders in the world. That's just my opinion. Let's go through the process. I think when you hear it, you'll like it." While Shaw refused to divulge his future plans, sources tell Maxboxing that an April doubleheader in Florida with Dawson meeting up with Glen Johnson and Tarver facing the winner of the upcoming bout between Peter Manfredo Jr. and Jeff Lacy is being discussed, with the winner of those bouts to meet up down the line. That's certainly more palatable than what's being served up in December. (ALMOST) DONE DEAL? While Lacy-Manfredo is a done deal for the December 8th undercard of Mayweather-Hatton, a bout between WBO 122-pound titlist Daniel Ponce de Leon and Eduardo Escobedo is very close to it. "I consider it 99.9-percent confirmed," said Joe Hernandez, the adviser to Ponce de Leon, who stopped Rey Bautista in one round back in August. "But we haven't gotten a copy of a contract. That's the only thing missing. And there's a couple of details, the bout agreements to be negotiated in the event we lose a close fight, a controversial decision, a draw. We have to see if the promoter (Golden Boy) is going to back up their fighter. I mean you just can't go out there and expect to fight one of their fighters and not protect the champion. Let's see if they're really interested in protecting their world champion." But he expects that fight to take place. "Without a doubt, there's no confirmation from them yet, but yeah, I consider it to be December 8th." For Questions or Comments E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com Today's Boxing Press Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums