If this was to be, for both, their very last fight, what would a victory (or loss) mean to Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito?
Obviously, this was not the fight boxing fans wanted to see. We needed Pacquiao vs. Mayweather because it would have settled the most meaningful question of this increasingly exasperating sport: Who is the best fighter of our generation? Pacquiao vs. Margarito, however, seduces with its repercussions.
What would it really mean, in terms of boxing history, if Manny Pacquiao slays yet another giant, especially this one, the tallest, heaviest, and meanest one he's ever faced? (Margarito stands 4.5 inches taller, has a 6-inch reach advantage, and some say, will weigh up to 15 lbs. more on fight night.) Conversely, would the rehabilitation of Antonio Margarito, the alleged hand-wrapping cheat, be complete if he pulls off an upset against the Filipino Mighty Mite?
If Pacquiao wins…
It matters little how Pacquiao, 51-3-2 (38), wins this fight – whether by swift knockout, back-and-forth slugfest, or clinical decision – because it will be impressive in any case. Margarito, despite the critiques about his technique and slow hands, is a freak of nature, possessing the genetic gift of an iron chin and a truly frightening willingness to break his opponent's will, and skull (just ask Kermit Cintron).
Just two years ago, Bob Arum and Freddie Roach had expressed their collective horror when asked about a potential matchup between their guy and the "Tijuana Tornado." Margarito at the time seemed crude, but utterly indestructible. And so improbably huge for a welterweight. Controversy and uninspired performances have dogged him in his last three fights; he had gone 2-1 against Garcia, Mosley, and Cotto.
But make no mistake, Margarito is an opponent for the ages for Pacquiao. The former has size and inborn malevolence on his side. He will be flustered by Pacquiao's speed, like everyone else has been, but will fight back: not quit on his stool like De La Hoya, not ballroom-dance like Cotto, not hide behind 8-ounce gloves like Clottey.
If Pacquiao wins, historians will mitigate his camp's petrified insistence on catchweights (in this particular fight, Team Pacquiao asked for, and got, a 151-lb. weight limit in this 154-lb. division). If Pacquiao wins – even if Mayweather, because of legal troubles or his queer sense of revisionist history, decides not to fight Pacman in 2011, or ever – he will deserve the same reverence bestowed on fellow giant-killers Henry Armstrong (11.5 lbs. lighter vs. Filipino middleweight champion Ceferino Garcia) and Sugar Ray Robinson (9 and 15.5 lbs. lighter against Jake LaMotta and Joey Maxim, respectively). Armstrong and Robinson fought far better fighters far more often than Pacquiao has (and without the slick catchweight restrictions), but neither of them started out at 106 lbs.
If Margarito wins…
What now? We'll never know, of course, how many of Margarito's pre-Mosley fights are tainted, but how could anyone dismiss a legitimate win against the fabled Pacquiao? Realistically, Margarito would need wins against Cotto in a rematch, Argentinian Sergio Martinez for junior-middleweight bragging rights, and Mayweather for Hall of Fame contention in Canastota, New York. But if he decides to hang up his gloves after this improbable win, boxing message boards will buzz for years about the merits of the last "W" on his record. Much of it will be about how we justifiably misjudged, then unreasonably misunderstood, one Antonio Margarito from Mexico.
From Yahoo News Philippines
