Now that Manny Pacquiao has faced the United States media the last two days during a press tour to promote his November 13 fight against Antonio Margarito, several boxing writers have used their voice to lambaste the ill-conceived bout.
Margarito is getting to fight the best boxer in the world though he went without a boxing license for over a year after trying to enter a ring against Shane Mosley with plaster laced hand-wraps during January, 2010.
There is plenty wrong with Pacquiao – Margarito and several characters to receive a fair share of blame.
In late-August the California State Athletic Commission, which had suspended Margarito initially, had the sense to deny his re-application. Days later, one the worst commissions in the world, the Texas Athletic Commission provided Margarito a boxing license bringing the fight to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Many have needled the head of Top Rank Promotions, Bob Arum, for putting together the bout. Arum?s drive to keep promotions featuring Pacquiao in-house limit the fighters available to the Filipino star, but even Julio Cesar Chavez Junior or Miguel Cotto are more deserving of the bout.
If Arum opened up the possibilities to fighters not controlled by Top Rank, there were many possible opponents, including, but not limited to Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, and Paul Williams.
The criticisms against Pacquiao have been a little louder than a wimper, but don?t let Manny off the hook that easy. After all Pacquiao is poweful and smart enough to secure a position as a congressman in his homeland and drives the Pacquiao Show. If Manny wanted to make a statement against fighters who try to bend the rules in the most dangerous of ways, he could of pushed his hand and nixed Margarito as an opponent.
To make matters worse, Pacquiao himself stated yesterday and today that he believes Margarito knew about the hand-wraps he would have brought into the ring against Mosley. Margarito has stated that he was unaware that his trainer had doctored the wraps.
Competitively Margarito have fought once in in 22 months come November with a record of one win and a loss. The bouts were a knock-out loss against Shane Mosley and a decision victory against Roberto Garcia in Mexico this year while in American boxing purgatory. Does Antonio deserve a shot at Pacquiao?
This all needs to be considered within a climate where boxing?s core fan base is highly disappointed by the inability of Arum, Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Junior, and others to deliver the biggest fight in boxing – Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.
Within all the written rage I have seen in the last few weeks, one player in this drama has been left without one barb dug into their skin: HBO.
Historically HBO has been the biggest broadcaster of boxing in the United States. The premium tiered cable network used to have the best fights with the best fighters and still has the strongest ratings within boxing broadcasting.
The Margarito – Pacquiao fight will be carried by HBO and promoted via their Emmy Award winning documentary series 24/7. This series, exclusive to HBO, does an excellent job of making even the most potentially miserable bouts interesting to fringe fans of boxing by following the bouts main characters over several weeks and presenting a series of half-hour documentary programs on the bout.
With HBO?s marketing muscle behind Margarito – Pacquiao, they have legitimized a bout with should not be taking place.
In recent years the quality if HBO?s boxing product has slipped due to cozy relationships with a handful of promoters who have not provided the best bouts to the network and over paid their fighters. Recently HBO has taken corrective measures to improve the quality of their boxing product.
But HBO has been unable to deliver Pacquiao – Mayweather and could and should play hardball with all involved parties by denying to broadcast any bouts featuring Manny or Floyd until the fight fans want to see is delivered.
Instead HBO has rolled over again, will broadcast a fight featuring a man who does not deserve one of the sport?s biggest paydays, on its biggest platform, and will once again provide a less than premium product.
