By Mark Vester
Last week, promoter Dan Goossen issued a press release that took shots at both Bob Arum of Top Rank and WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, over WBO mandatory Paul Williams not receiving his much deserved shot at the title.
Arum is willing to make a fight between Margarito and Williams, but not before June 9, a set date for a pay-per-view clash between Margarito and WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.
According to Arum, the only way a Margarito-Williams fight will happen any sooner is if Miguel Cotto is upset when he meets his mandatory Oktay Urkal on March 3 in Puerto Rico.
It was said that Margarito would return to action in a March tuneup that would have been the co-feature to Cotto-Urkal, but Arum recently told scribe Kevin Iole that Margarito is still recovering from a wrist injury that he suffered in his last bout.
It appears that Margarito will not be ready to fight until May at the earliest. The one problem with moving forward with the Cotto fight in June, is the strong possibility of the WBO stripping Margarito of the title for his failure to meet Williams.
"(Margarito) can't fight until (May at the earliest), and why should he fight Williams for no money when he'd have a big-money fight with Cotto there for him in June?" Arum said to Iole. "But if Cotto loses (to Oktay Urkal on March 3), then, sure, (Margarito) wouldn't blow the title. He'd fight him then."
