Dr. Peter Edwards (photo credit to antoniomargarito.com)
In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of articles with respect to the subject of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. avoiding a potential date with WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. Very few of these articles have merit, and a lot of them are laced with an abundance of biased opinions.
Most of these pundits come off like they are harboring a deep hatred for a fighter that is not allowing anyone other than himself to control his career choices. I don't see dozens of articles wondering why Marco Antonio Barrera is facing every fighter other than Manny Pacquiao, but this situation is a bit different.
I find it hard to believe that a fighter like Mayweather is ducking Margarito, but wants to fight guys like Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya, both of whom in my opinion can beat Margarito. Most people in the business that I have spoken to think Mosley has the best chance to derail Mayweather from the list of potential opponents in his weight class.
I would like the Margarito supporters to let me know who exactly did he beat to make him such an unstoppable force that would cause Mayweather to hide in fear. Is the best win on Margarito’s record against a very green Kermit Cintron? Is this the same Margarito that was rocked and beaten by a B-level junior middleweight named Daniel Santos? The loss that forced Margarito to move down to welterweight as quickly as he moved up to junior middleweight.
I won’t deny the fact that Margarito has talent and potential to be a star, but style-wise he is the prime candidate to beat a fighter like Mayweather. Mayweather would have a field day with a flat-footed fighter who telegraphs his punches. Margarito could easily be the strongest fighter at welterweight, but you can’t hit what you can’t catch.
Mayweather would fight Margarito in the same fashion that he fought guys like Diego Corrales and Artuto Gatti, and not allow Margarito to get off with his punches while landing a punch ratio of 7 to 1.
Based on the evidence in his past fights, I feel Mayweather has a sturdy enough chin to take a good shot from Margarito. He took some very good shots from Jose Luis Castillo and Zab Judah, and was never in any serious trouble or found himself in danger of going down. Mayweather arguably has the best defense in the sport and never lets a fighter hit him with more than one punch at a time. If you examine his fighters against DeMarcus Corley, Zab Judah and Jose Luis Castillo, you will notice that when Mayweather gets hit with a flush power punch, he automatically goes into a defensive shell that does not allow his opponents to connect with additional punches. While trying to crack his defenses, most opponents punch themselves out or mentally give up within a few rounds.
The best chance for Margarito to win this fight is to land a lucky punch. Margarito has the edge in power, but that is it. Mayweather has the advantage in every other category, such as speed, ring generalship, overall skill, and level of opposition. John Ruiz had the power advantage on Roy Jones and was actually able to land a flush shot that Jones took on the chin in the opening round. Jones not only took the punch of Ruiz, but returned fire and never allowed Ruiz to land another punch for the entire fight.
They say in boxing that a good big man will always beat a good little man, but the emphasis in that saying is on the word “good.” Mayweather is not a good fighter, he is a great fighter, and a great little man will always beat a good big man when matched in the right circumstances. I say the right circumstances because I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to imply that Mayweather can leap up to 160 pounds and beat a fighter like Winky Wright where he would face a huge disadvantage in size, but at 154 pounds he stands a small chance of winning.
Allegedly there is an offer of $8 million dollars on the table for Mayweather to face Margarito in October. I use the word “allegedly” because you never know which side is telling the truth when it comes to negotiating money for a major fight and unless I see the actual letter, I have no way of knowing if the offer is legit.
Mayweather is shooting for a November pay-per-view date and Bob Arum, promoter of Margarito, has said that would not be able to get Mayweather $8 million if the fight were to be held in November.
This reminds me of a scenario a few years ago when people were all over former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis for allegedly ducking David Tua. Lewis fought him in due time, and dished out a one-sided beating. Mayweather drew the same criticism in the past when he fought at the lightweight limit and was accused of avoiding Diego Corrales, which he inevitably fought and embarrassed. History has a way of repeating itself in the sport of boxing and the Mayweather-Margarito scenario could very well end up with the same result.
I personally think the fight will take place, maybe not in 2006, but it will take place down the line.