So What If Antonio Margarito Beats Manny Pacquiao? -- The Sweet Science

By Raymond Markarian, The Sweet Science

So what if Margarito beats Manny Pacquiao?

Yeah, no one is really talking about that one. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Antonio Margarito’s boxing license and justifiably so. The guy was found with cement, check that, plaster in his boxing gloves before a welterweight championship fight against Shane Mosley in January 2009.

But now he has the opportunity to defeat arguably the greatest fighter in the world today, Manny Pacquiao. Margarito will be facing a man that is much smaller than him, the same man that fought at 130 pounds two years ago.

So what if Margarito wins? Then we will have a supposed cheater as one of the most feared fighters on the planet, literally. There would also be less talk about the dream match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

And here is the thing about the mastermind man they call Money Mayweather. The guy is playing is all for a fool. Boxing fans wake up every morning to search for information on when or if Floyd is going to fight again. The anticipation is there and he knows it. The Pacquiao fight will also supposedly be Mayweather’s last fight in the ring, so why rush?

This just in, Mayweather is a smart business man, ladies and gentlemen. The more we wait, the more we will anticipate. Mayweather understands the concept of anticipation more than anyone. He had to wait until he was 30 years old before he got a shot at Oscar De la Hoya. And now he is, as he likes to call himself, the cash cow. After Pacquiao, there is no one left for Mayweather to fight. No one else could generate that kind of dough. That is why Floyd is making us wait. And it is arguably the reason why he “retired” after defeating Ricky Hatton in 2007. It was to generate more anticipation for a big fight.

Will we lose interest in a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight if we have to wait until next year? Absolutely not.

Any boxing fan that refuses to watch Mayweather/Pacquiao fight next year because Floyd made us wait for too long is not a real fight fan. And no matter what you think about the outcome of Margarito/Pacquiao, win or lose, Pacquiao will eat some leather in this fight. He might even lose a step. The last two name opponents Margarito fought, Cotto, and Mosley, were not the same afterwards.
Bingo Floyd Mayweather.

Skeptics of Margarito will point to his weak performance against Shane Mosley as a drawing point of demise. But that was the Antonio “Oops, I just got caught cheating and my career might be over” Margarito against Mosley.

That wasn’t the Antonio “Hey, I am going to walk through all of your punches until I make you quit,” Margarito that we saw against Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao thirsts on stalking opponents that come to him. But is Pacquiao going to run through Margarito the way he did Ricky Hatton? Please.

No matter what we think about Margarito’s merit to fight Manny Pacquiao and no matter how he or his promoter pulled the fight off, an opportunity of a lifetime is upon him. Margarito will be ready. And the hype will be plenty. Believe that.

So what if Margarito wins? And then what do we do? Maybe there will be no more Mayweather/Pacquiao. Maybe there will be no more Floyd Mayweather period.

Source: thesweetscience.com