Tale of the Tape: Pacquiao vs Margarito

Pacquiao vs Margarito boxing fight will hit the ring on November 13th. Still wondering who have the greater advantage of this fight? Many favored Pacquiao to win but on the second taught let us see a big difference in the tale of the tape between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito. The height and reach advantage is in favor of Margarito. But we can’t also measure the speed and power bears by the Filipino fighter.

Here is the Pacquiao vs Margarito Tale of the Tape:

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, also known as Manny Pacquiao, is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is a Seven-Division World Champion, the first boxer in history to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions. Among his strengths are: Natural left-hander with good skills, speed and movement, Tremendous punching power in both hands, Shown great improvement in his right hook, Physically strong, Always in top condition, Experienced against top opposition Professional Career Highlights: World championship fights – 8-1-2, 7 KOs, Ranked ESPN.com and The Ring #1 “Pound for Pound”, Ranked WBC #1 at 140 pounds, WBO #1 at 147 pounds., Former WBC lightweight world champion, Former WBC super featherweight world champion, Boxing Writers Association of America “2008 Fighter of the Year”, The Ring “2008 Fighter of the Year”, Boxing Writers Association of America “2006 Fighter of the Year”, The Ring “2006 Fighter of the Year”, Former WBC International super featherweight champion, three successful defenses, Former IBF jr. featherweight world champion, four successful defenses, Former WBC flyweight world champion, one successful defense, Former WBC International super bantamweight champion, five successful defenses

Antonio Margarito Montiel is an American boxer of Mexican descent , and former World Boxing Association Welterweight Champion. Among his strengths are: Aggressive style, Good offensive skills, At his best, he keeps a relentless pace, constantly pressures his opponents, and wears them down, Good punching power, a good body puncher, tough and determined, Big, strong welterweight, Always well-conditioned, good stamina, Experienced against good opposition. Professional Career Highlights: Former IBF welterweight world champion, Former WBO welterweight world champion, seven successful defenses, Former jr. middleweight world title challenger, WBO Intercontinental welterweight champion

Margarito Camp Starts Fight Preparation

The moment Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum made the announcement that Manny Pacquiao’s next fight will be against Antonio Margarito, the Mexican’s trainer, Robert Garcia, immediately gathered all of the Filipino icon’s fights on video. “Since I learned about the fight I’ve been watching Manny Pacquiao’s fights, from when he got knocked out in the beginning of his career, to his loss against (Erik) Morales (in March 2005) and all the other fights were he beat everybody else,” Garcia told the leading boxing website fightnews. “We’ve been studying all those fights and I think we’ll come in with a great plan and a great strategy to beat him,” said Garcia, whose former clients include ex-world champion Brian Viloria. Pacquiao and Margarito will slug it out for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) super-welterweight title on November 13 at a venue that will soon be determined, according to Arum. Vying to host the much-awaited return of Pacquiao are Las Vegas, Dallas, Monterrey in Mexico and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Arum said he would know by next week which city will secure the rights to stage the bout. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is said to be very keen in getting the fight and is going all-out in pleasing Pacquiao’s ultra-luxurious taste. As Arum tries his best to get the best deal out of the interested parties, Garcia is making himself busy coming up with the blueprint for Pacquiao’s downfall.

Looks like Pacman is headed to Dallas again

Bob Arum recognizes the fact that Las Vegas could use the economic boost from a big fight but he thinks the Nevada State Athletic Commission is dead set against allowing Antonio Margarito to fight anytime soon. So the back up plans are being lined up for his fight against Manny Pacquiao.

“If this fight does not wind up in Las Vegas, I don’t want anyone to say that it was because of Bob Arum,” he told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole. “I live in this town and I know how much this city needs that event, but it looks like (the NSAC) is digging its heels in on this.”

Iole says the favorite is now Cowboys Stadium, the site of the last Pacquiao fight against Joshua Clottey. He compares and contrasts the way Nevada handled Mike Tyson’s many offenses in the past. Iole says Nevada is wrong to deny Margarito the chance to fight again.

source: http://sports.yahoo.com/box/blog/box_experts;_ylt=AlkQ2j__stoKCNCvHpnTYFeUxLYF

Pacquiao likes the idea of fighting Margarito in Mexico

According to Michael Marley of Examiner.com, Manny Pacquiao likes the idea of fighting Antonio Margarito in Mexico on November 13th rather than Las Vegas, Nevada because of the money that Pacquiao will save by fighting in Mexico. Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz says “Manny loves the people at the MGM Grand and they’ve treated him well, but it becomes an economic decisions. There’s a 35 percent tax burden for Manny to shoulder in America but not in Mexico and that adds up.” Someone really needs to tell Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about Pacquiao’s feelings on this matter, because he’s working his hardest right now in trying to get Margarito’s boxing license back in the United States just so that Arum can stage the Pacquiao-Margarito fight in America.

I don’t know who has more pool with Pacquiao – Koncz or Arum – but I’d be willing to be that whatever Arum wants in terms of the location for the Margarito-Pacquiao fight, that’s what he’ll get. If I was Pacquiao, I would go for the fight in Mexico in a second, but Pacquiao seems to defer to Arum on a lot of matters related to his career, and this is probably going to be another one of those times.

Koncz says “Manny knows he will get a warm reception from the people in Mexico. They will cheer, some of them will, for Margarito, but he feels some will cheer for him as well. The Mexican boxing fans are very intelligent and they are not racist of any sort.”

I wonder if Koncz likes the idea of Pacquiao fighting in Mexico more than him. It seems kind of odd that Koncz is speaking for Pacquiao. I’d rather hear what Pacquiao says for himself rather than having it broken down second hand like this. Whatever the case, I see Pacquiao fighting Margarito wherever Arum wants the fight to take place, and that’s in the United States. If Arum strikes on in his efforts to get Margarito relicensed, then the fight will no doubt take place in Mexico. However, Arum is probably going to be able to shop around until he finds a state that will give Margarito his boxing license back. With the big money that a Pacquiao vs. Margarito fight will bring in, Arum shouldn’t have any problems finding one of the states that are willing to give Margarito his boxing license back shortly.

source: http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/pacquiao-likes-the-idea-of-fighting-margarito-in-mexico/

Antonio Margarito’s trainer speaks | Boxing Q&A for Robert Garcia

As reported this past weekend by Fightnews, former three-time welterweight world champion, Antonio “Tijuana Tornado” Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) of Mexico will take on seven-time world champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) of the Philippines on Saturday, November 13 for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title with the location still to be determined. Fightnews recently sat down with Margarito’s trainer, former junior lightweight champion Robert Garcia, to get his take on the upcoming fight.

What was your reaction upon learning that your fighter will be facing the seven-time world champion and who most people consider the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao?

I was very happy to find out that we got the fight and it’s exciting to know that we’re going to be involved in this big fight, it’s going to be the biggest fight of the year. I’m very excited to know that we’re going to be a part of it.

Manny Pacquiao hasn’t lost since 2005 and has been the most dominate fighter in boxing for the last five years, what are some of the things you’ve noticed that will be key to defeating someone like that and what’s your opinion of him?

Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter and as we all know he’s considered the best in the world. I know Margarito trains hard for every fight and he has the desire to be great and to beat the best out there so I know we are going to be ready for this fight. Margarito is strong, very hungry and always has great conditioning so those are going to be big advantages for us going into this fight. There are some things I’ll be working on with Margarito for this fight and certain things that we’re going to have to do going into the ring against Manny.

Give us your thoughts on this fight, how do you see the fight going and what do you think the outcome will be?

I think it’s going to be a great fight. What do I think the outcome will be, well of course I want Margarito to win and we’re going to be doing everything possible to have Margarito win the fight. Since I learned about the fight I’ve been watching Manny Pacquiao’s fights, from when he got knocked out in the beginning of his career, to his loss against Morales and all the other fights were he beat everybody else. We’ve been studying all those fights and I think we’ll come in with a great plan and a great strategy to beat him.

Do you think Margarito will have any problems making the 150 pound weight limit set for this fight?

No problem at all. When Margarito came to camp for this last fight he was only 12 pounds over the weight limit which was 154 and 2 weeks before the fight he was already weighing 154 so losing those last 4 pounds won’t be any problem. So to be 150 I think is going to be a big advantage for Margarito, he’s going to be much stronger and much healthier. Margarito is a natural welterweight and has fought there for most of his career, at 147, so I think those extra 3 pounds is going to work to our advantage.

Margartio has fought some of the very best like Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, just to name a few, do you think Manny Pacquiao will be the toughest fight of his career so far?

Without a doubt, Manny Pacquiao has been very tough against everybody he’s fought so he’ll definitely be Margarito’s toughest opponent. In the ring anything can happen so we’ll be ready for him but I definitely think he’ll be Margarito’s toughest opponent so far.

In Manny Pacquiao’s corner will be his long time trainer, Freddie Roach, give us your opinion of him as a trainer and what does it mean to you going up against him?

He’s a great trainer, like I’ve always said, he’s considered the best and he’s proven to be the best. With all the work he’s done with Manny, with Amir Khan, all his guys, he’s done such a great job with them that he deserves that spot. To me going up against him, like I’ve done before, I’ve had a couple fighters going up against him, its also a challenge for me as well. Now that we’re going up against the great Manny Pacquiao, its going to be more of a challenge and its going to give me more power to work harder and train Margarito the best I can.

source: http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/qa-robert-garcia-2-54414

Margarito Files Application: California License Request

According to the Los Angeles Times, former three time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito filed an application on Wednesday to have his license reinstated by the California State Athletic Commission. Last February the CSAC revoked Margarito’s license to box when they found him liable for a January 2009 incident – when officials found two hard inserts containing a plaster-like substance in his hand wraps prior to a bout with Shane Mosley at Staples Center.

“We’ve asked for this to be heard on an expedited basis,” before the commission’s next scheduled meeting Sept. 20 in Los Angeles,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum to The Times.

Margarito tried to apply for a license in Nevada a few weeks ago, but the Nevada Commission directed him to re-apply in California. If Margarito reclaims his boxing license in California, it’s very likely that Nevada will issue him a license as well. Then Arum can stage a fight between Margarito and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on November 13. Las Vegas is Arum’s top choice to stage the fight, but it can’t happen until Margarito is issued a license in California.

Arum told the paper that other states have reached out and told him they would license Margarito – regardless of whether or not Margarito is licensed first in California.

source: http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=29642

Arum adds more U.S. sites as options for Pacquiao vs Margarito

Bob Arum has a love-hate relationship with Las Vegas and the Nevada State Athletic Commission so he’s not about to wait around while the powers that be mull over their decision to grant Antonio Margarito a license to fight. If Top Rank successfully strong-armed the NSAC, it was initially thought that Las Vegas was the favorite to get the Margarito-Manny Pacquiao fight. But just in case the NSAC refuses to reinstate Margarito, Arum is throwing Cowboys Stadium and Atlantic City into the mix, according to Keith Idec from the North Jersey Herald.

MGM Grand in Las Vegas and Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, are considered Arum’s top two choices, but sources close to the situation believe Boardwalk Hall has become a viable alternative because executives at Arum’s Top Rank Inc. think New Jersey’s State Athletic Control Board would approve Margarito’s application for a license to box in this state. Haledon native Nick Lembo, general counsel for the SACB, declined comment Tuesday because Margarito has yet to submit an application.

This is an interesting twist since the NSAC already tabled Margarito’s initial request and told him to head back to California, the state that initially handed down a one-year suspension back in February of 2009. If New Jersey approved Margarito’s license, it might indicate that Nevada is no longer the standard-bearer when it comes to state commissions.

Margarito will fight Pacquiao at one of the three U.S. sites mentioned. If all three states turn away Margarito then Monterrey, Mexico, could be the backup plan.

source: http://sports.yahoo.com/box/blog/box_experts/post/Arum-adds-more-U-S-sites-as-options-for-Pacman-?urn=box,258796

Pacquiao to fight for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title

How can Pacquiao be fighting for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title when he’s not even ranked in the top 15?

Manny Pacquiao has pretty much everything going for him in his upcoming November 13th fight against Antonio Margarito – hand speed, power, movement, and better boxing skills. With all that going for him, why does Pacquiao need a 150 pound catch weight to fight Margarito? That’s four pounds under the 154 pound maximum weight for the junior middleweight division. Why does Pacquiao need a catch weight, and how is he allowed to fight for a title when he’s not going to be fighting at the full weight? But more importantly, how can Pacquiao be fighting for the vacant World Boxing Council junior middleweight title when he’s not even ranked in the top #15 in the division?

The last time I checked, Pacquiao is the WBO welterweight champion and has no ranking in the junior middleweight division. This reminds me a lot of Pacquiao’s title challenge of then WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto last year in November 2009. Like the Margarito fight, Pacquiao was able to fight Cotto at a catch weight for the title. Cotto didn’t want his WBO welterweight title to be on the line, because the fight was going to be held at a 145 pound catch weight.

Suddenly, however, the WBO put Pacquiao at number #1, meaning that Cotto has no choice but to have his WBO title on the line for the fight. If Cotto refused, then he would have been stripped of his title and it would still be on the line for Pacquiao to fight for it. Pacquiao went on to stop Cotto in the 12th round to capture his WBO welterweight title. Now, Pacquiao is fighting for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title against Margarito, who is ranked #1 by the WBC. I don’t see Pacquiao’s name anywhere in the top 15 for the WBC or any of the other junior middleweight sanctioning bodies.

How, then, can Pacquiao be fighting for the vacant title when he’s not even ranked? Shouldn’t this fight really be between Margarito and someone like the number #2 ranked WBC junior middleweight contender Saul Alvarez, or someone like Alfredo Angulo, Vanes Martirosyan or even Sergio Mora rather than Pacquiao. I honestly don’t know how a fighter like Pacquiao can be fighting for the vacant WBC title when he’s not even ranked in the division. How is that allowed?

I mean its one thing Pacquiao fighting for titles at catch weights instead of the maximum weight, but it’s a whole different kettle of fish when Pacquiao is allowed to fight for vacant titles when he’s not even ranked at all in the division. I know anything is possible, but there’s got to be some rules that keep fighters from doing this, because it’s not fair to the top contenders that are currently ranked in the top 15 in the junior middleweight division. Is it okay for Pacquiao just to leap frog over them and fight for the vacant title at a catch weight. In either case, I don’t think it’s fair.

I think if Pacquiao wants to fight for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title, he should be fighting at the full weight and he also should be ranked in the top 15. Somehow, I have a feeling the WBC will soon have Pacquiao ranked in the top 15 for the junior middleweight division, much in the same way that the WBO suddenly pushed Pacquiao out of nowhere to the number #1 spot in the welterweight division before his fight against Cotto last year.

source: http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/how-can-pacquiao-be-fighting-for-the-vacant-wbc-junior-middleweight-title-when-he%E2%80%99s-not-even-ranked-in-the-top-15/#more-35718

Hasn’t Margarito been punished enough? Fans need to welcome his fight against Pacquiao

It seems like boxing fans will never forgive Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) for the hand wrap incident before his fight against Shane Mosley last year in January. At that time, a plaster-like substance was found on Margarito’s hand wraps immediately before his fight against Mosley. After the hand wraps were removed and a set of substitute non-plaster containing hand wraps were put on Margarito’s hands, he went out and was stopped in the 9th round by Mosley. A week later, Margarito had his boxing license revoked for one year by the California Athletic Commission.

Margarito has now done more than a year of the suspension, and yet he still doesn’t have his boxing license and many fans dislike him intensely. My question is where is the compassion among fans? Is this a society where when you make a mistake, you’re forever penalized? Everyone makes mistakes and they should be forgiven after they’ve been punished for them. You can’t just permanently punish someone for their mistakes because how can they learn from them if they’re finished after only error.

I think it’s high time that Margarito be re-embraced by boxing fans. The man has done his time, paid his price and is now looking to fight the biggest fight of his career against Manny Pacquiao on November 13th. This will be Margarito’s biggest payday of his career, and if he does the impossible and pulls off an upset of Pacquiao, he will be a huge star, whether some fans like it or not. I expect that the Nevada Athletic Commission will give Margarito his boxing license back so that the November 13th fight against Pacquiao will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Margarito will end up with a boxing license even if Nevada doesn’t give it to him. This fight is bigger than Margarito’s past mistake, and the money is too huge for one of the Commissions to deny the talented Margarito his boxing license.

Few boxing fans are giving Margarito much if any chance at beating Pacquiao. They see Margarito only for his last two fights against Mosley and Roberto Garcia. However, my guess is many of those same boxing fans would be picking Margarito if this was 2008. Margarito looked great at that time and was at the top of his game. But in the Mosley fight, Margarito came in weight drained and not in the best of shape. It wasn’t that he lost anything; it was that he had taken off too much weight in too short of a time frame. This won’t be the case on November 13th. We’ll be seeing the old Margarito and I think he’s going to give Pacquiao a lot of problems and very possibly beat him up and stop him the same way that Margarito stopped the hard hitting Kermit Cintron on two occasions in the past.

source: http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/07/hasnt-margarito-been-punished-enough-fans-need-to-welcome-his-fight-against-pacquiao/#more-35584

Antonio Margarito’s Greatest Hits Video (HBO)

The Mexican-American boxing star is also known as the “Tijuana Tornado” and “Tony”. Margarito’s current professional boxing record stands at 37 wins (27 by way of knock out, KO) and 6 losses.

The Antonio Margarito greatest hits boxing video contains some highlights from his professional boxing career as updated and uploaded by HBO Boxing as of January 16, 2009.

Margarito suffered three losses early on his professional career, however, he went into a winning streak that picked up his career. He won his first world title when he defeated Antonio Diaz last March 2002 for the vacant WBO World Welterweight belt.

He won his second title when he defeated IBF World Welterweight Champion, Kermit Cintron in a rematch last April 2008. On their first meeting, Margarito successfully defended his WBO belt against Cintron.

The IBF ordered him to defend his belt against Joshua Clottey, the organization’s number-one contender whom Margarito had previously defeated in 2006. Instead of agreeing for a rematch, he vacated his IBF belt and agreed to fight undefeated WBA World Welterweight Champion, Miguel Cotto. He won the bout against Cotto to capture the WBA title, his third belt.

As the newly promoted WBA World Welterweight Super Champion, he faced Shane Mosley in Margarito vs Mosley. Before the bout started, Margarito’s team got caught in a hand wraps controversy. Antonio lost his belt via 9th Round TKO.

Featured on this Antonio Margarito Greatest Hits boxing video are his matches against boxing stars; Hercules Kyvelos, Paul Williams, Golden Johnson, Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto.

Watch Antonio Margarito’s Greatest Hits Video