Earlier today news broke that Antonio Margarito has been approved of a license for fighting in the state of Texas, paving the way for a November 13th clash with Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium. The fight that few seemed to be clamoring for is right at our footsteps as the two combatants will do battle for the vacant WBC Jr. Middleweight championship of the world.
Margarito was suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission after elements of plaster of paris were discovered in his hand wraps prior to his January 2009 loss to Shane Mosley and had his appeal denied earlier this month by the Commission. Texas insantly came to the forefront an one man who isn?t surprised by the developments is veteran boxing scribe Bert Sugar, who has been keeping tabs on all parties involved.
?The whole situation would take me over twenty hours to discuss,? Sugar says of the Pacquiao-Margarito affair. ?Texas probably cited the second amendment about allowing the right to bear arms. It?s not hard to get a license to do anything in Texas so that was a gimme. Jerry Jones wants the fight down at the Cowboys Stadium and it will happen. I knew it would happen no matter what California or Nevada said.?
Margarito sports a 38-6 record with 27 knockouts while having fought spirited battles against the likes of Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and others but his career has been in shambles since his suspension following the Mosley battering. A fight with Pacquiao is much deeper than just a fight for a vacant belt for Margarito as the contest is his first time back in the spotlight.
?It?s a good fight,? Sugar claims. ?It?s not a great fight. It?s not the one we were expecting but I hesitate to tell you that it will be a better fight than Joshua Clottey. We always overlook Margarito. I?m just looking forward to going to Dallas and seeing Margarito and drinking margaritas.?
Of course everyone had their hopes up for a Pacquiao meeting with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. yet the Las Vegas-resident seems to be preoccupied on other endeavors at the moment. Asked if a Pacquiao-Margarito clash was somewhat hard to take in, Sugar strongly disagrees. In closing the shrewd New Yorker points out that in this sport you simply need to work with what you got.
?It?s not hard to take. You need something in boxing otherwise the whole sport will disappear. It?s a B+ fight, not the A++ fight we were looking for which is still the most anticipated fight since Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard 30 years ago. But this is not chopped liver. This is a good fight.?
