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

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