By Ken Neir: Bob Arum of Top Rank has made his choice for Mannny Pacquiao’s next opponent on November 13th by selecting former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito to fight Pacquiao in either Las Vegas, Nevada or Monterrey, Mexico. Margarito, like Pacquiao, is a member of Arum’s Top Rank stable. The location of the bout all depends on whether Margarito will be able to get his boxing license back in the United States in time for the fight. Margarito is applying to the Nevada Athletic Commission to try and get his license back. If Margarito is unable to get his boxing license back, the fight will then be held in Mexico.
In article by Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports, Arum had this to say: “Cotto was beaten and even with [trainer] Emanuel Steward now with him, I don’t think people believe that it’s enough to make a difference and I’m not sure they would buy it as competitive. But putting aside the controversy about the wraps, the one thing you know for sure with a Margarito fight is that it will be a hell of a fight for however long it lasts. Margarito knows only one way to fight and that’s coming forward. They’re going to get in there and fight. That’s what people want to see.”
Arum had to choose between WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Margarito. Since Cotto had already had the stuffing pounded out of him by Pacquiao last November, Arum figured it would be a wiser move to choose Margarito instead. I don’t know if will be any better going with Margarito. Both Cotto and Margarito seem like awful choices.
Margarito-Pacquiao might not bring in any better PPV numbers than Clottey did against Pacquiao. This in turn could mess things up for when Arum and Pacquiao try to put together a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year. Unless Pacquiao’s fight against Margarito does really well on pay per view, which I highly doubt, then it’s going to be difficult for Arum to Pacquiao to ask for a 50-50 deal with Mayweather in terms of the financial split of the revenue.
This should be another easy fight for Pacquiao. Hopefully it’s better than his last fight against fellow Top Rank fighter Joshua Clottey last March. That was supposed to be an exciting opponent for Pacquiao, according to Arum and trainer Freddie Roach. Instead, Clottey went into his turtle shell defense early on and fight fans saw one of the most boring fights in ages. Margarito probably won’t be as boring as Clottey, but he also likely won’t last as long. Looking for easy 6th round knockout for Pacquiao. I see this a longer version of Pacquiao vs. Hatton.