Factoring Antonio Margarito into the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes after roughly a year off isn’t easy.
If it were going to be easy it would have happened by now.
Bob Arum is going to have to call in a serious favor if one is out there.
Margarito will have to enter via California or Texas, maybe Nevada. Which state will blink first?
In California, I believe we can find out the truth as to what really happened with Margarito, that may be different than what we think we believe to be the entire truth.
Maybe something is being covered up. But what? Why? Somebody will eventually talk if they don’t think history is treating them fairly.
In other words, there is a lot more going on than has been released.
Beyond a one-year penalty, the only penalty available in California to the commission is a lifetime ban.
In another year, after the big money guys like Pacquiao and Mayweather, Jr. have moved on or retired, another year is a lifetime ban in Margarito’s case.
In Texas, it doesn’t appear Dickie Cole will call the shots on this one. He was over-run by the big boss at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), William Kuntz, at most concerns regarding Pacquiao vs. Clottey.
Otherwise Margarito would have already been on “The Event’s” under card.
Texas let Edwin Valero in while he’s banned in the other 49, and is probably dreading that decision which is already coming back to haunt the state.
Cole and Arum go back maybe 40 years so are obviously old – school warriors and their word is their bond. Kuntz seems more like a Diet Coke and Rubik’s Cube kind of guy and while not boxing media-savvy certainly is media-concerned with his state’s image and his job if all backfires.
So much taxable revenue is involved in this Margarito battle that I’d be surprised if Nevada doesn’t feel it has to get in the game if for no other reason than its image and losing fights to Texas.
Margarito is a true welterweight. That won’t put fear into you unless you aren’t a true 147 pounder. Say you started six weight divisions below that and maybe 30 pounds lighter and really only want to fight other artificial welterweights like yourself.
I’m not speaking of either Floyd Mayweather, Jr. or Manny Pacquiao specifically, but pound for pound both are better than Margarito and head to-head we know Mosley already clobbered him.
Margarito is a danger to both because he’s bigger naturally, meaning the night of the fight he’s heavier, he can bang and box.
Margarito’s attractive because he simply sells tickets. He brings the enormous Hispanic boxing audience with him for a major fight.
I say eventually he’s going to get a license, so the sooner you fight Margarito the better before he’s back in peak shape mentally and physically.
We know Joe Frazier got Muhammad Ali after only two tuneup fights when he probably needed more time to get the rust off after his suspension and promoters feared they better get to their “Fight of the Century” whether Ali was 100 percent or not because too much money was at stake and they could have a rematch anyway.
I don’t know that I’ll ever see enough evidence that tells me Margarito was innocent of any wrong doing in his Plaster of Paris hand wraps case.
Saying California is responsible for letting Margarito fight again so he can fight in Texas and giving Texas a free-ride morally is also head-scratching logic. But that is where we are at.
If any evidence against Margarito could stick, then he’s guilty. It’s like being a little bit pregnant.
There is no turning back once a decision is made.
Texas, Nevada or California or all three will have to come out of their comfort zone on this case and I don’t think Margarito is really worth it because there is a cloud over him and he shows no remorse.
Texas acted cowardly (The state will say it acted politically trendy) by actually not rendering a decision on Margarito fighting on the Pacquiao vs. Clottey card and just letting time run out.
That might have worked in that instance but it may have used up the state’s only “get out of jail free” card because you know that the TDLR is spoiled with the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in its backyard and unlimited tickets and credentials for entertaining so now it actually “must” put on fights and rubber-stamp everything that comes its way.
It’s going to get tighter and more interesting in the days ahead.
