It is said that April is the cruelest month. But for boxing fans, no April could possibly be more cruel than this coming November.
Instead of the eagerly anticipated, November 13 pound-for-pound superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, it looks like we?re going to get Pacquiao versus Antonio Margarito.
Pacquiao-Mayweather would have been like a sumptuous steak dinner with all the trimmings. Pacquiao-Margarito is more like the result of an excursion in Dumpster-diving.
To put it mildly, Margarito is damaged goods. Two years ago, he was on top of the world, having brutally stopped then-undefeated Miguel Cotto in a welterweight title bout. In Margarito?s next bout, Shane Mosely turned the tables and handed a stone-cold beatdown to the ?Tijuana Tornado.? Even worse, it was revealed that Margarito?s trainer, Javier Capetillo, tried to slip a ?foreign substance? into his fighter?s handwraps.
Margarito and Capetillo were suspended from boxing. In his recent comeback bout, Margarito won a lackluster decision over the unheralded Roberto Garcia.
Although both Margarito and Capetillo have been ostracized as ?cheaters,? this recent Mailbag comment by Doug Fischer over at The Ring?s website offers both men a broad benefit of the doubt. Scroll down to the comment labeled ?Shambles? to see Fischer?s take on the handwraps controversy.
[ Click Here for Fischer’s viewpoint]
But even if Fischer is 100% correct in his speculations, Margarito still doesn?t deserve a shot at Pacquiao. At this point, all Margarito brings to the table is notoriety, and that?s not enough.
Besides, there are several fighters in the 140 to 154-pound range whose qualifications for a Pacquiao bout far outweigh Margarito?s.
Take Juan Manuel Marquez, for example. True, Marquez suffered a lop-sided decision loss to Mayweather last year. But in two bouts with Pacquiao ? at super-featherweight in 2008 and featherweight in 2004 ? Marquez lost a close decision in the former, and managed a draw in the latter. Some people believe Marquez should have been awarded the decision in both those fights, even though Pacquiao knocked him down three times in their first fight, and once in their second encounter. Recently, Marquez came back from the Mayweather drubbing by scoring a second win over Juan Diaz. No matter what weight class they compete in, Marquez will always present Pacquiao with problems, in the same way that Ken Norton proved a perennial conundrum for Muhammad Ali.
Then we have the ?Resin Dust Twins? ? that would be rising junior-welterweight stars Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander. These young title-holders in the 140-pound division are undefeated. Alexander is defending his IBF and WBC crowns against Andreas Kotelnik this weekend, so there?s a chance he might lose his ?0.? Ideally, Bradley and Alexander will eventually fight each other for supremacy in the division. But they?re both waiting to hit the jackpot with a Pacquiao fight. Both young men are good enough to give Pacquiao a much better fight than, say, Joshua Clottey or Ricky Hatton did. They might even beat the Pacman, though Manny would be favored to win against both men.
Another youthful 140-pound title-holder of note is Amir Khan. True, Khan has a blemish on his ledger: a one-round shock knockout loss to Breidis Prescott. But then, Pacquiao was knocked out early in his career, too, and nobody holds that against him now. Still, Khan?s chin would definitely be checked by the power Pacquiao has retained as his weight has increased. Khan would be an underdog, but imagine how much money a Pacquiao-Khan matchup would pull in Khan?s native Britain.
If Pacquiao prefers to remain at welterweight for now, he could always fight Andre Berto, who is an undefeated title-holder. Even with his ?0? intact, Berto would be a live underdog, as he is yet to be tested against a truly world-class contender, other than former title-holder Luis Collazo, who can?t seem to catch a break in his big fights. Pacquiao is probably too high a mountain for Berto to climb. But it sure would be fun to watch him try.
Meanwhile, Sergio Martinez may well be a mountain too high for Pacquiao to scale. Martinez is on a roll these days, having lost a debatable decision to Paul Williams, then decisively outpointing Kelly Pavlik. At 35, the Argentine is older than Pacquiao, but he seems to be coming into his own at an age when most boxers not named Bernard Hopkins are on the decline. Although he beat Pavlik at middleweight, Martinez is a natural light-middleweight (or, if you prefer, super-welterweight). He would likely be willing to pare down to a catch-weight of 150 or 152 pounds to get a crack at Pacquiao. Martinez is reminiscent of a super-sized Marquez. That would spell trouble for the Pacman. A win over the bigger Martinez, even at a catch-weight, would boost Pacquiao?s position in the ranks of the all-time greats.
On the other hand, a victory over what?s left of Margarito will not do anything more than fatten Pacquiao?s bank account.
(NOTE: I left out Paul Williams because ?The Punisher? has some unfinished business with Martinez, and with Kermit Cintron as well.)
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians Researchers.
