Aguascalientes, Mexico — Last night, Antonio Margarito made a successful return to the ring with a dominating performance against Roberto Garcia on Top Rank?s ?Latin Fury? PPV. After a fifteen month lay-off, partially due to his 1-year ban for attempting to load his gloves in his previous bout with Shane Mosley, Margarito looked sharp, scoring a knockdown in the first round. Margarito cruised from there, winning the bout by unanimous decision.
The fight was Margarito?s first at junior middleweight since 2004. The three-time welterweight champion, decided on the jump in weight after his loss to Shane Mosley in January of 2009. With the victory over Garcia now official, Margarito can now look ahead to his next potential opponent. There is a wide range of fighters that are available, but Antonio Margarito seemingly has his sights set on Manny Pacquiao.
Margarito, who initially called out Pacquiao (http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=17371) when ?Pac Man? beat Oscar De La Hoya at the end of 2008, still wants that fight. In 2008, Margarito told El Nuevo Dia,
?Pacquiao looked very good and showed that he can fight against the better welterweights. If he and the promoters agree, and want to do it, I will gladly do it.?
But would fans embrace a Pacquiao-Margarito mega-fight?
If this fight were to happen, the event would more than likely be held at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. The massive venue that hosted Clottey-Pacquiao in March to a crowd of over 40,000. After that fight, Bob Arum (Top Rank CEO & Pacquiao/Margarito?s promoter) felt he could host a successful Kelly Pavlik fight at Cowboy Stadium, if he had a strong Mexican opponent. Pavlik is out of the picture now, but Margarito seems most definitely as the Mexican draw Arum was referring too.
With the ongoing saga over blood testing between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. not seemingly coming to an end any time soon, a fight with Margarito could be the next best thing.
The terms of the fight should be easy to agree to, since both our managed by Top Rank (or at least you?d hope). It?s still unclear, but a fight between Antonio Margarito could happen at welterweight or junior middleweight. As fun as it would be to see Pacquiao bump up to 154-pounds, it seems unlikely since he would not be challenging for a world title. A title at 154-pounds would give Pacquiao an historic eighth division championship. Fans would more likely want to see Pacquiao defend his welterweight title against Margarito, a former three-time welterweight champion himself.
Hopefully, more information will become available next week on who Manny Pacquiao may be fighting next. He has yet to really begin any negotiations with the Mayweather?s, at least not officially. Pacquiao could also fight 154-pound champion Sergio Martinez, but Martinez is waiting to hear if Kelly Pavlik will exercise the rematch clause in his contract. So with Floyd Mayweather not bending on blood-testing and Sergio Martinez possibly having a rematch with Kelly Pavlik or Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito could slide in to the top spot. A fight with Pacquiao would be a huge payday for both fighters.
Do you want to see Manny Pacquiao face Antonio Margarito? Or is he just another inferior opponent standing between a potential Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown.
