24.05.07 – By John Martinez, BoxingRealm.com: Earlier in the day, a conference call was held to promote the upcoming title fight for Antonio Margarito’s (34-4, 24 KO’s) WBO welterweight belt when he takes on the unbeaten challenger Paul Williams (32-0, 24 KO’s) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on July 14.
Both fighters talked to reporters about the famed sparring session that took place three years ago between the two and each guy gave conflicting accounts as to who got the best of whom. Williams laid claim to damaging Margarito to the body and eye while Margarito stated that Williams refused to continue the session. However, both men agreed that on July 14, they would leave everything in the ring and nothing to chance.
I for one am anxious for this fight because I believe it will have provide a prominent shakeup in the welterweight division and it will give the fans what they deserve, a real fight.
In Williams and Margarito, we know we will get an all action bout that has “fight of the year” written all over it instead of a cautious chess match. This fight will live up to the hype as each man solidified in their expressed comments.
I asked Margarito about his last outing against Joshua Clottey and what he thought about that fight.
“I think you know when you talk about Clottey, you talk about a real strong guy that took a lot of punishment. I wasn’t at my best. I had some problems with my ankles and with my hands. I think this fight with Williams will be different and I will be totally different for this fight.”
For Williams, he made it clear that he will not utilize his height and considerable reach advantage in order to capture the WBO title.
“ I don’t plan on keeping him at the end of my punches. I plan on knocking him out.”
He also stated that Margarito and he are similar in styles because they both “throw a lot of punches” so they’ll “both be open for a lot of shots.” However, he believes there is a distinction between the two- “ I see that he give it but I don’t think he can take it that good.”
I asked Margarito if he felt that he needed a dramatic victory in order to endear him to the casual boxing fan and to continue to press for big fights such as this one and he answered
“ I go in there looking for the win no matter what it takes and that’s what I do. I try to do the best I can give the best I can.”
When asked by another reporter regarding future fights with other named fighters, Margarito commented “ I know I have to beat Paul Williams and then possibly Cotto in order to get to the De La Hoyas.”
This fight will showcase a pair of hard hitting, forward charging combatants who have planned on a “ take no prisoners” kind of fight on July 14. If this is true, then not only will both fighters win by raising their profiles to the hardcore and casual boxing fan alike, it will give boxing as a whole what is needed, true grit, true fights. There can only be one fighter that gets their hand raised that night for the belt, but there will be many more fans that will win by witnessing an all out pride fight without having to plunk down dollars to view it on PPV. Hopefully a precedent is being set here, Pavlik/Miranda, Cotto/Judah, Castillo/Hatton, Margarito/Williams, and Marquez/Vazquez just to name a few. Boxing needs more of this, not more of the same old same old.
john@boxingrealm.com