By Miguel Rivera
Zanfer Promotions could be putting the wheels in motion to build a rematch between comebacking former world champion Antonio Margarito and former three division beltholder 'Sugar Shane Mosley.
The 'Tijuana Tornada' is scheduled to fight on March 5th at the Mexico City Arena when he faces Jorge 'Maromerito' Paez.
Margarito, 38-years-old, has been inactive since December of 2011. He was stopped in nine rounds in his last fight by Miguel Cotto in their rematch at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Margarito walked away from the sport after a severe injury to his right eye. He suffered a fractured orbital bone in his 2010 decision loss to Manny Pacquiao. After multiple surgeries, the eye quickly swelled up in the early rounds of his fight with Cotto and eventually led to the fight being stopped. He retired after that fight, fearing that his eye would create problems in future contests.
If Margarito wins with Paez (39-7-2, 23 KOs) and comes away without injury, promoter Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions would stage at least one more bout for him in Mexico before a fight in the United States will be considered.
Mosley, 44-years-old, returned last year after a near two year layoff and got knockout wins over Ricardo Mayorga and Patrick Lopez.
His fight with Margarito in January 2009 was one of the most controversial bouts in several decades, but not because of what took place in the ring.
An hour or two before both fighters were scheduled to enter the ring, Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson questioned the stiff nature of Margarito's hand wraps. Upon examination, an inspector for the California State Athletic Commission discovered hard illegal inserts in both wraps.
The fight went forward with Mosley knocking Margarito out in nine rounds. Margarito was suspended over the wraps incident, but eventually regained his license to box.
A spokesperson for Zanfer told ESPN Deportes that they initially wanted Margarito to face Ricardo Alvarez [brother of Canelo] in June, but then felt it was better to have Margarito fight someone else, and maybe have Mosley fight Alvarez on the same card, and then have the winners of both bouts to collide in the fall in the United States.
"At the beginning one of the possible opponents was the brother of Canelo, Ramon Alvarez - but then it was thought that [Margarito will fight someone else] and perhaps Shane Mosley might go to Guadalajara to fight with the brother of Canelo and then the winners will fight each other at the end of the year in United States, but we have to wait [for the outcome of March 5]," added the Zanfer spokesman.
