04.12.06 – by Yero Moody: This past weekend was full of great boxing action. Winky Wright v. Ike Quartey, Miguel Cotto v. Carlos Quintana and Antonio Margarito v. Joshua Clottey. These fights were supposed to showcase each fighters talents in the hopes of setting them up for bigger and better fights. Not surprising was the technically precise beating that Winky delivered to Quartey but what was surprising was the poor showing by Margarito against upstart Clottey..
We’ve heard the chorus of Bob Arum and Antonio Margarito saying loudly and boldly that no one wants to fight because of fear of Margarito! The chorus reached deafening decibels when Floyd Mayweather turned down Bob Arum’s offer of $8 million to fight Margarito. Mayweather cited Margarito’s poor quality of opposition and lack of drawing power as the reasons he rejected Arum’s offer. Immediately Floyd Mayweather became known as “Fraud” Mayweather to many of his detractors.
Bob Arum did a masterful job of turning the focus off of Margarito and placing the focus solely on Mayweather and his rejection of his offer. This in turn got Margarito’s name floating off the lips of everyones mouth. Why wasn’t Margarito’s name being mentioned with such regularity and force prior to this? Why weren’t Margarito’s fights being viewed in larger venues considering the fact that Margarito has stated several times that he is the best welterweight and “the most feared man in boxing”? Was there any truth to what Mayweather said about Margarito?
I submit to all who now are reading this article that Margarito’s fight against Clottey holds the answer to all of the above questions. What I witnessed, as I normally do when watching Margarito’s fights, was a defenseless, slow, flat footed, awkward punching one dimensional fighter who is a warrior at heart. The fact that he is a warrior and has faced mediocre talent are the only reasons that he has maintained his WBO championship for this long.
Clottey was able to land his punches at will from every conceivable angle. The first four rounds were thoroughly dominated by Clottey and in the fifth round Clottey just stopped punching all together. This prompted the commentators to suggest that Clottey may be playing opossum. However, when he went back to his corner he immediately stated that he hurt his left hand and from that point on Margarito was able to to gain the advantage and win the fight. I’m not suggesting that that is the only reason Margarito won the fight because no one can know that unless they have psychic abilities and I do not. I am suggesting that Margarito got manhandled easily when Clottey was not hurt and I’m pretty sure that Margarito wants no more of Clottey and Clottey will probably not get a well deserved rematch.
Already the supposed reasons for Margarito’s poor performance are swirling. One such reason is that he hurt his wrist as well. However, I don’t recall him mentioning that to his cornermen during the fight at all. I do realize that we the audience don’t hear everything that is said. Secondly, he looked poor because of his inactivity. I find that very laughable. I realize that inactivity can hurt you but usually when you haven’t fought at all for a lengthy stretch and that’s not the case with Margarito. When Trinidad, Mosley and De La Hoya had lengthy periods of inactivity they still dominated their opponents when they returned to action against much better opposition than Clottey. That is what elite fighters do.
I like the warrior spirit in Margarito but unfortunately that’s not enough to make him an elite level fighter. In this sport all the athletes have a warrior spirit, some more than others of course. Skill is also needed. Margarito has shown time and again that he can be hit at will by slow fighters. His tough chin may make it difficult for someone to get a KO victory but you don’t need a KO to win in this sport. All it takes is to do what Clottey was able to do so easily. That is use good defense and counter. Clottey does not possess the defensive skills of a Mayweather or a Winky Wright but he was able to simply use his gloves to block Margarito’s slow, easily timed punches up until the time he broke his left hand.
I’ve realized for quite sometime, as have many others, that Margarito is not an elite level fighter. He shines on ESPN 2 and various smaller venues but he doesn’t have what it takes to reach star status as a fighter. I’m not saying these things to belittle him or his fans but these are just the facts as I see it right now.
When you call yourself the best welterweight and “the most feared man in boxing” you had better be exceptional and Margarito is not. I always felt that Floyd Mayweather would destroy Margarito in dominating fashion but I’m not one who enjoys watching lopsided beatings. He has absolutely no chance of beating Mayweather unless Mayweather hurts both his hands. If Margarito chooses to relinquish his WBO belt to avoid fighting Paul Williams his mandatory challenger, I’ll know not only is he a hippocrate but he is the real fraud! I predict that Paul Williams will beat Margarito and “officially” bring this hype to an end where it needs to be.
Questions or comments: email yero_m@yahoo.com