The HBO marketing line on Antonio Margarito is more than halfway clever.
You know, the ?one fights for history, the other for redemption? bit you see slapped on all the prefight hype coming out of the Sixth Avenue office of the prime cable network.
But unless he shocks Manny Pacquiao, the world and especially the bookmakers, how does Antonio Margarito get redeemed exactly?
I am scratching my head on that because just being competitive against the Pinoy Idol does not get the job done, does not clear the name of ?Margacheato Bandido? in my view. No way, Don Jose and all the other saints at the World Boxing Council does it clear the air for the first fighter since the halcyon days of Roberto Duran who can properly be referred to as ?Manos de Piedra,? meaning ?Stonehands.?
I see where Margarito is advertising Affliction, the clothing line, on a pay me if you like me basis and that was a no brainer for Affliction bossman Tom Atencio.
But the Mexican-based, internationally known cement company, Cemex, missed a bet here by not slapping its name and logo all over the Handwrap Cheater?s trunks and robe for this fight.
I say the only crystal clear way for Margarito to erase his bad rap is to knock Pacman out and I mean knock him out as cold as the poor head of my baseball idol turned into a popsicle, Ted Williams.
If Margarito does that, then he can perpetrate and sell the idea that the handwraps caught before he got slapped around the ring by Sugar Shane Mosley were a one off situation.
Only then will any of us believe that he probably did not cheat when he fought Miguel Cotto once and Kermit Cintron twice.
If he loses to Pacquiao, that black cloud will never lift for Margarito.
Only if he wins and does it by knocking the smaller but much quicker man out, will Margarito have any shred of credibility to keep telling the world not only did he never even try to cheat before the Mosley bout but that his wraps were 100 percent clean for those three questionable bouts.
Margarito is going to feel like poor Sisyphus, vainly trying to keep that big boulder, that huge rock, from rolling back down the hill.
Oh, my bad, I forget we?re not supposed to mention such hard objects because Bob Arum swears on a stack of Ring magazines that it was trainer Javier Capetillo with no input from Margarito who tried to cheat in Los Angeles.
Yeah, sure.
KO Manny and you get redemption, Margarito.
Any other result and the shadow of shame will never go away.
