by Lem Satterfield
Photo © Bryan Crowe/FightWireImages.com
Ex-welterweight champion Antonio Margarito carries a something that his promoter, Bob Arum, contends should easily win him fame in the ring, let alone, a prominent welterweight title.
And that something is his overall toughness as well as his two-fisted power.
But Margarito, who lives in Tijuana, but who is training in Los Angeles, also carries something that Arum, considers to have been a detriment to his career.
And that something, said Arum, is his overall toughness and two-fisted power.
"Boxing managers today are reluctant to push fighters into fights, even if they pay pretty good, when their fighter has a real good chance of losing. So therefore, Margarito has had difficulty making fights," said Arum, who still contends that Floyd Mayweather, now in line for yet another megabucks bout against England's Ricky Hatton, opted to face and defeat Oscar De La Hoya, not because of the millions he earned, but "simply because he didn't want to fight a tough guy like Margarito."
"Floyd Mayweather wouldn't fight Antonio Margarito," Arum said. "I offered Mayweather a lot of money at the time to fight him, but he just wouldn't do it."
So Arum, just last month, signed 33-year-old Golden Johnson (25-7-3, 18 knockouts) to face Margarito (34-5, 24 KOs), with something much bigger at stake for Margarito.
"This a good step to start again and hopefully fight four more times next year. Everyone knows that it was a tough fight (with Paul Williams). I lost a very close fight. It was just a misstep," Margarito said. "I want to get back in line, it's important to get a victory. I hope to get it against Golden Johnson and then go from there."
Their fight will take place on Nov. 10 at New York's Madison Square Garden on the undercard of the HBO Pay-Per-View main event between challenger Shane Mosley (44-4, 37 KOs) and World Boxing Association champ Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs).
"Miguel Cotto is my No. 1 priority in that division, and I think he's the main event guy. And I think Miguel Cotto is going to win the fight against Mosley," said Arum. "It's incumbent upon me as his promoter to showcase guys who Miguel can fight down the road, because you can't rely on the fact that he's going to fight Oscar De La Hoya or a Floyd Mayweather."
"I have to make my own opponents, and, obviously, I think it's a way for people to compare and see a fighter in the same weight class as Miguel Cotto," Arum said. "The winner of the Margarito-Johnson fight will be an acceptable opponent for the networks as far as being an opponent for Miguel Cotto."
Johnson will have been out of the ring for exactly a year when he steps into the ring against Margarito.
"Golden is sort of on a roll lately," said Arum. "If he's able to defeat Margarito, he's viable and goes right into the mix."
On Nov. 10 of last year, Johnson scored what appears to be a career-reviving 11th-round knockout of Oscar Diaz, who entered their bout with a record of 25-1, with 12 knockouts. Johnson was slated to fight a rematch with Diaz on Nov. 3, but their undercard and the main event, between Glen Johnson and Anthony Hanshaw, dissolved.
Starting with Margarito, Johnson has a three-year deal with Arum, who still considers Margarito the most dangerous threat to Cotto.
Kermit Cintron, the present International Boxing Federation's 147-pound champion, is 28-1 with 26 knockouts, and is in line for a February 2 bout against World Boxing Organization champion Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KOs). Cintron was thrashed in five rounds by Margarito in April of 2005, long before Margarito lost what Arum still considers a controversial unanimous decision Williams in July.
"We arranged to fight on Showtime against Cintron, but even after he won, Margarito's not the fair-haired guy," Arum said. "Williams is a very, very good boxer, and a nice kid, but I think Margarito beat the crap out of Williams. He just ran out of rounds. I think Margarito won what was a close fight, but the judges gave too much credit to what appeared to be Williams' looking active and throwing a million punches when not a lot of those punches landed."
Margarito agrees with his promoter, citing the fact that he gave away some of the early rounds by fighting at a slower pace.
"I don't think Williams is better than me. He just had a good night. What I learned is that I have to throw punches. I have to start throwing from the start. I can't wait around and give up rounds. I need to be active, throw a lot of punches and just keep going," Margarito said.
Arum said he considers Margarito's performance against Johnson "very, very imporant" to Margarito's reputation.
"The loss to Williams hurt the air of invincibility that we were building for Margarito," Arum said. "We need a very good performance on the part of Margarito to make a match with Mosley or Cotto viable."
Aside from a crack in his armor of invincibility, another loss would inflict serious damage to his career. Margarito is aware of how much is at stake and doesn't plan to take any chances. He knows an impressive victory will put him in line for the Cotto-Mosley winner.
“We watched videos of Johnson. We are not going to take anyone lightly. We are going after every guy in the same way that we do in a championship fight and that's what I plan to do in this fight, Margarito said. "It's important to get a fight with the winner (of Cotto-Mosley). They are both big names and the winner will have the championship which is obviously good."
Lem Satterfield covered the boxing beat for the Baltimore Sun for 18-years and is currently a freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times.
