Should sponsors jump on board with Margarito? -- Yahoo! Sports

By Steve Cofield, Yahoo! Sports

The storm of controversy is coming in Dallas. A huge crowd will gather in Big D to watch Manny Pacquiao face Antonio Margarito. The cash registers will ring and both fighters will haul in great paydays. After being suspended for loading his handwraps with a plaster-like material and serving a one-year suspension, does Margarito deserve this sort of windfall?Eric Samson, who works in a marketing capacity with Ecko Unlimited, says Margarito should be untouchable for sponsors. From Business Insider:

Antonio Margarito has been anything but honorable, and as a sponsor I refuse to represent anyone who has exhibited that kind of behavior. Any company that sponsors Margarito needs to seriously reconsider what they represent as a brand. To sponsor Margarito is not to sponsor boxing. It is a decision to pay an athlete who has risked doing irreparable physical harm to fellow fighters.

Is this view naive? This is a short-attention span society. How many customers are still irked about Margarito allegedly attempting to cheat before the Jan. 2009 Shane Mosley fight? With that in mind, should sponsors bother following any rules of morality?

Samson also thinks the fight is pointless.

The upcoming fight between Margarito and Manny Pacquiao (for the vacant WBC Super Welterweight title) creates a no-win scenario for boxing. If Margarito loses, then fans have additional evidence that his career was built on dishonesty and cheating. And if he wins, we will call a cheater a champion. Should boxing fans admire someone who used cement to attain a level of pain and destruction that can’t compare with human flesh and muscles?

Is it enough that Pacquiao says Margarito deserves a second chance? Or should fans and sponsors take a stand and boycott the fight?

Source: sports.yahoo.com