Former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito is ready to step back into the ring and leave behind an embarrassing one-year suspension for being caught with illegal hand wraps before a fight against Shane Mosley.
The self-proclaimed “Tijuana Tornado” faces Roberto Garcia on Saturday night in the main event of a pay-per-view show from Aguascalientes, Mexico. Margarito is moving up to junior welterweight for the bout and weighed 154 pounds Friday. Garcia weighed 153.
“I am so glad to get back into the ring. I really missed the crowds and all of the fans ? but I always kept training,” Margarito said after the weigh-in. “I never left the ring. I feel strong and I am ready.”
Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) hasn?t fought since losing to Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Before the fight, Mosley?s trainer Naazim Richardson noticed a plaster-like substance in Margarito?s wraps and called for them to be redone.
Margarito wound up getting stopped in the ninth round in what was considered a mild upset.
After a hearing before the California Athletic Commission, Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo were each suspended for at least one year, a decision upheld by other state athletic commissions. Margarito could have boxed in Mexico, but decided to stay out of the ring in the hopes of fighting in the United States in the future.
Margarito claims he knew nothing about the illegal wraps and blamed Capetillo, whom he fired as his trainer. He is now working with Robert Garcia.
“Our whole training camp went so well,” Garcia said. “To see Antonio train so hard ? it helps our other fighters, seeing how hard he works and what it takes to fight on a high level.”
The fresh coaching might serve Margarito well. He was considered among the most feared fighters at 147 pounds before taking on Mosley, but the veteran dominated him most of the fight, using superior speed to hit what essentially became a defenseless, stationary target.
“We worked on Antonio?s stance, his head movement, little things,” Garcia said. “He?s keeping his hands up better. He?s a great listener when we are in the ring training. Antonio is in tremendous shape ? he could have made 147 for this fight. We had great sparring and we are prepared for whatever Garcia throws at us.”
Roberto Garcia (28-2, 21 KOs) is not expected to give Margarito much trouble, even though he?s been working with Freddie Roach and his record looks good on paper. Garcia is riding a five-year, 14-bout unbeaten streak, even though his resume is missing any big names.
“Freddie knows everything there is about Margarito,” Garcia said. “I am not the same fighter I was two years ago. I?m a world champion in waiting. And one thing is for sure: Margarito is going to have trouble hitting a moving target.”
Also on the “Latin Fury” card Saturday night, WBA interim super featherweight champion Jorge Solis faces former title challenge Mario Santiago, and lightweights Urbano Antillon and Rene Gonzalez fight in a WBA eliminator.
“I feel great at this weight,” said Solis, who will be in his second fight since moving up from featherweight. “I know Mario Santiago is fast, with quick hands, but he is a Puerto Rican fighter and we will find a weakness when we are in the ring Saturday night.”
Williams takes on Cintron, waits for big bouts
LOS ANGELES ? Paul Williams? guileless grin just doesn?t fit his words when the most avoided fighter in boxing discusses what he plans to do to Kermit Cintron on Saturday night.
“I?m going to try to break his ribs, his jaw,” Williams said. “I?m going to try to kill him, basically. … I?m going to hit him with everything I?ve got, and he?s going to have to fight me like a dog with rabies.”
Appearances always deceive with Williams (38-1, 27 KOs), a 6-foot-3 puncher capable of fighting at 147 pounds. His freakish athletic versatility petrifies almost every star in three weight divisions, leaving him to take on other fighters with more skill than fame ? such as Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs), a Puerto Rican star also at a career crossroads.
“I know people are scared to fight him, and a lot of people are scared to fight me,” Cintron said. “The only thing you can do is fight each other.”
They?ll meet on HBO in a 154-pound bout at an outdoor stadium in Carson, Calif., just south of downtown Los Angeles.
Outside the ring, Williams is a laid-back character who plays on his striking resemblance to comedian Dave Chappelle ? but there?s nothing funny about the obstacles blocking his path to the sport?s apex.
Williams would love to be a top welterweight landing big-money fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. He has the skill and the record for it, but still realizes his sheer size makes those fights highly unappetizing for the shorter superstars.
He has thought about cleaning out the middleweight division ? but after two fights with Kelly Pavlik were canceled by the former champion last year, Williams was heavily tested in a narrow win over Sergio Martinez last December.
Yet Williams insists he isn?t frustrated by the pace of his career. He also didn?t flinch at taking on the dangerous Cintron, who has abandoned his own welterweight aspirations for bigger prizes.
“I?m not begging for a sandwich right now,” Williams said, citing his business interests and real estate holdings in the same way most top fighters reference their title belts. “It?s like shooting in the dark when you worry about that. I?m not even focusing on it.”
Promoters have tried to poach Williams for years, offering him wild promises of top-notch fights, but he remains loyal to Los Angeles-based Dan Goossen. When fans wonder why Williams isn?t as famous as Mayweather or Pacquiao, he squashes any notion of blaming Goossen, manager/trainer George Peterson or adviser Al Haymon, the mysterious boxing guru who gives counsel to Mayweather and other elite fighters.
“Dan is a straight-up guy,” Williams said. “I?ve never had any problems with him. The people that got me here, that?s who I roll with. That?s my loyalty. I?m going to stand my ground. I?ve had a lot of people trying to steal me away, but I?m loyal.”
Williams is quite comfortable avoiding the spotlight in real life as well. He lives in Augusta, Ga., where he can blend into the background even when the Masters is in session.
He shares that small-town vibe with Cintron, a native Puerto Rican who grew up around Reading, Pa., excelling in several sports during high school. He hasn?t been embraced by his home island?s fans with the same fervor awarded to Felix Trinidad or Miguel Cotto, yet an upset of Williams would begin to change all that.
Cintron has only two losses on his exemplary record, both on stoppages by hard-punching former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. Cintron has said he wouldn?t be surprised if Margarito, who returns to the ring Saturday in Mexico after a 16-month banishment for glove-loading, had cheated in their fights as well.
“He doesn?t feel like he?s got a lot of favors from boxing,” promoter Lou DiBella said. “He?s never had many soft touches, but he?s at a point in his career where he?s very confident in his own ability. Everybody respects Williams, but there?s a breed of guys that will just fight anybody. A lot of people wrote him off after the second Margarito loss, but he knows inside that he?s not done.”
Cintron moved up to 154 pounds in February 2009 with a majority draw against Martinez, who demolished Pavlik last month. Last May, he won a decision over Alfredo “Perro” Angulo, a top 154-pound prospect, but has fought just once since then.
Cintron acknowledges more frustration than Williams, but won?t let it cloud his strategy for an upset in Carson.
“That?s where fighters get in trouble,” Cintron said. “They think about (Williams?) advantages too much. I don?t concern myself with all that, and just think about how to have some success with what I?m doing. I?ve done my homework in the gym. I?ve trained hard, and there?s no excuses.”
