By Cliff Rold
The worst thing that can happen to a populist movement is to run smack into a realist paradigm. Populism is about what’s right, or at least what sounds right. Realism is about all of the things people do when they stop talking and think about the future.
The recent chatter about the now apparently imminent Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley was about realism. It was about money and because it was, the near-miss on the fight was a serious threat to the public image of a fighter with a good one.
The WBA Welterweight titlist Margarito (37-5, 27 KO) has been Boxing’s version of a populist movement in recent years, his ascendancy fueled in part by blue collar fans who recognized quality rugged prizefighting where too often flash is rewarded first. As he racked up multiple victories over other rugged, legitimate top ten Welterweight contenders only to fall short of the biggest opportunities, the volume of his backers increased. It could be said that the lunch pail crowd felt a kinship with his ‘packed lunch, all day affair’ style and story.
His victory last July over Boxing’s latest new star, Miguel Cotto, was in that sense a populist victory. He got his shot and he turned it over. It was some damn good narrative. It also resulted in exposing Margarito’s stronger business position than market forces and Pretty Boy’s would have had Boxing fans believe.
Margarito’s first Ring Magazine cover this year, pre-Cotto, displayed a following previously not recognized. According to Ring editor-in-chief Nigel Collins, “We were both surprised and pleased with the sales for September, and that’s why we went with Margarito again in November.”
Ticket sales for Margarito fights have been consistently stronger than almost any other fighter in the Western United States, currently Boxing’s most important regional market. In the most important overall money market, the Cotto fight is to date the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year at approximately 450,000 purchases.
That’s almost twice what Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones did a few weeks ago and without HBO hard selling via a 24/7 commercial. It’s almost funny when one remembers that initially Margarito-Cotto wasn’t even slated to get a countdown show. Margarito’s fans had always argued their man was being denied. Now they have the numbers to prove it.
However, the underlying element of the Margarito story, the sort of anti-establishment vibe, just about disappeared recently. He didn’t follow the Cotto win by making hay to avenge his last loss to fellow Welterweight titlist Paul Williams. With Williams out of the division at this point, it’s a conversation that died quietly. Unquiet, Margarito talked about a fight with Shane Mosley and then appeared to balk…over dollars.
Suddenly the populist seemed establishment and, to be truthful, at this point it’s what Margarito is. He’s proven box office. No, he’s not at the Oscar De La Hoya, inevitably unretiring Floyd Mayweather or Ricky Hatton level, but no one else is either.
And establishment is what all fighters really aspire to. They should. Getting hit in the head for a living is wild stuff; seeking wealth from the endeavor is a sensible goal. The problem for Margarito is that his whole persona is predicated on blood and guts factors that don’t incorporate intangibles like ‘charisma.’
It’s not that Margarito or his team was wrong in fighting for more money. Boxing fans hear things like ‘2-million dollar purse’ and stop. They don’t think about the fighters not actually making anything near announced amounts after taxes, payouts to staff and promoters and other expenses. People still talk about Mike Tyson ‘blowing’ $300 million and forget the figure is all about gross and not net.
Where Team Margarito was wrong is in letting it all be so public, in letting an Andre Berto into the conversation. It was an Oz-like moment where the curtain pulled back and Margarito looked like something his image was crafted around not being.
He looked like everyone else.
Most fans, blue collar or otherwise, could care less what fighters make. They want the fights. Margarito was fortunate that Mosley-Berto wasn’t a makeable fight and that HBO was able to step back in to make January 24th a showdown date. The fight is happening, the trash talk can resume, and the curtain can be closed almost all the way again. The populists can get a brief honeymoon.
But it won’t be forgotten that the curtain was raised. This last week has shown that the long, hard road of Antonio Margarito really ended last July. Mosley marks the start of a new journey. Given his style in the ring, as long as the fights happen and continue to deliver, Margarito will be easily forgiven.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
