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Pacquiao: Margarito deserves chance
Source: Agencies |
September 2, 2010, Thursday
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MANNY Pacquiao believes in giving a second chance to disgraced boxer Antonio Margarito, his next opponent.
Pacquiao said he just doesn't believe Margarito was unaware he was wearing illegal hand wraps before a fight nearly two years ago.
Though he agrees Margarito deserves a second chance in boxing, Pacquiao isn't buying Margarito's defense and the passionate arguments of promoter Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.
"Of course, I believe he knew," Pacquiao said. "He's the one who wraps his hands. He's just making some alibi for some reason. What do you think? My belief is you (would) know that."
During an otherwise genial get-together in California, boxing's pound-for-pound champion said he wants somebody watching Margarito's hands getting wrapped before they meet in Texas, which is hosting the bout partly because Margarito still is banned from the ring in Nevada and California.
"My concern is that we have somebody in the dressing room, someone else watching him," Pacquiao said.
The Philippines' new congressman will fight for a title in his eighth weight class when he meets Margarito on November 13 in a bout at Cowboys Stadium, which could be filled with more than 70,000 fans. Although the bout is for the vacant WBC 154-pound title, they'll meet at a 151-pound catch weight.
The fighters exchanged handshakes and later cracked up when they attempted the usual staredown pose, with Pacquiao laughing when he craned his neck to look up at Margarito, who's about 5 inches taller.
The matchup is undeniably dangerous for the much smaller-framed Pacquiao, who has won 12 straight fights, including a one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in March. Pacquiao will make sure it isn't even more perilous to fight Margarito, whose promising career was derailed when trained Javier Capetillo was caught packing his wraps with a substance resembling plaster before Margarito's loss to Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles in January 2009.
Wearing a canary-yellow polo shirt and demonstrating an increased ease with the media responsibilities of a superstar, Pacquiao took his position just moments after Arum launched another passionate defense of Margarito, who was denied a license to fight by the California state commission on Aug. 18.
"Antonio Margarito did not know that those hand wraps were illegal, and there was something bad in those wraps," Arum said. "(There's) not one shred of proof. ... There was a revocation. He served his time, and thank God, the people in the Texas boxing commission, who reviewed all the testimony, agreed with that conclusion."
But Arum's decision to match his best fighter against his most notorious has been met with widespread criticism. Pacquiao's record is 51-3-2, 38 KOs. Although Pacquiao has redefined the importance of weight classes during his near-unprecedented rise, the matchup is undeniably dangerous.
Pacquiao's hand-wrap observers will make sure it isn't even more perilous to fight Margarito. "They're welcome to watch the wraps," Margarito said. "I'm going to prepare myself the best I can to give a great fight. I always stay in the gym, learning and training."
Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) has a size advantage and a remarkable ability to take a punch, but he also has fought just once since his loss to Mosley, winning a tuneup bout in Mexico in May.
Pacquiao said he just doesn't believe Margarito was unaware he was wearing illegal hand wraps before a fight nearly two years ago.
Though he agrees Margarito deserves a second chance in boxing, Pacquiao isn't buying Margarito's defense and the passionate arguments of promoter Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.
"Of course, I believe he knew," Pacquiao said. "He's the one who wraps his hands. He's just making some alibi for some reason. What do you think? My belief is you (would) know that."
During an otherwise genial get-together in California, boxing's pound-for-pound champion said he wants somebody watching Margarito's hands getting wrapped before they meet in Texas, which is hosting the bout partly because Margarito still is banned from the ring in Nevada and California.
"My concern is that we have somebody in the dressing room, someone else watching him," Pacquiao said.
The Philippines' new congressman will fight for a title in his eighth weight class when he meets Margarito on November 13 in a bout at Cowboys Stadium, which could be filled with more than 70,000 fans. Although the bout is for the vacant WBC 154-pound title, they'll meet at a 151-pound catch weight.
The fighters exchanged handshakes and later cracked up when they attempted the usual staredown pose, with Pacquiao laughing when he craned his neck to look up at Margarito, who's about 5 inches taller.
The matchup is undeniably dangerous for the much smaller-framed Pacquiao, who has won 12 straight fights, including a one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in March. Pacquiao will make sure it isn't even more perilous to fight Margarito, whose promising career was derailed when trained Javier Capetillo was caught packing his wraps with a substance resembling plaster before Margarito's loss to Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles in January 2009.
Wearing a canary-yellow polo shirt and demonstrating an increased ease with the media responsibilities of a superstar, Pacquiao took his position just moments after Arum launched another passionate defense of Margarito, who was denied a license to fight by the California state commission on Aug. 18.
"Antonio Margarito did not know that those hand wraps were illegal, and there was something bad in those wraps," Arum said. "(There's) not one shred of proof. ... There was a revocation. He served his time, and thank God, the people in the Texas boxing commission, who reviewed all the testimony, agreed with that conclusion."
But Arum's decision to match his best fighter against his most notorious has been met with widespread criticism. Pacquiao's record is 51-3-2, 38 KOs. Although Pacquiao has redefined the importance of weight classes during his near-unprecedented rise, the matchup is undeniably dangerous.
Pacquiao's hand-wrap observers will make sure it isn't even more perilous to fight Margarito. "They're welcome to watch the wraps," Margarito said. "I'm going to prepare myself the best I can to give a great fight. I always stay in the gym, learning and training."
Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) has a size advantage and a remarkable ability to take a punch, but he also has fought just once since his loss to Mosley, winning a tuneup bout in Mexico in May.
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