As Manny Pacquiao ascends the boxing scales with seemingly wanton disregard for size disparities, you have to wonder if – at 150 pounds – “The Pacman” is close to biting off more than he can chew.
Antonio Margarito – his durable nemesis for Saturday’s clash at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX – stands nearly five inches taller and has fought in the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions for the majority of his career.
Pacquiao, who won his first world title over a decade ago at just 112 pounds, is seeking his eighth world title in as many weight classes when he challenges for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title.
Margarito, a three-time welterweight champion, is making his second attempt at capturing a title in this division.
Most feel that Margarito (38-6, 27 KO) of Torrance, California by way of Tijuana, Mexico is not the ceiling in Pacquiao’s career but rather a hand-picked foil that lacks the necessary speed and career momentum to pull off the upset. Margarito is the third consecutive Top Rank-promoted stablemate that Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO) of General Santos City, Philippines has faced.
It also helps Pacquiao’s cause that it’s easier to rise in weight than to drop.
The catchweight of 150 pounds – which is four under the normal divisional limit of 154 – is designed to cut Margarito’s strength advantage down to size. This is Pacquiao’s second straight world title challenge in which his opponent was obligated to come in under the regulation limit (Miguel Cotto, from whom Pacquiao wrested the welterweight title last year, faced Pacquiao with a 145-pound catchweight).
