By Sammy Rozenberg
The dark horse of the welterweight division, Antonio Margarito, wants the big names, but the big names do not want him. The problem with a guy like Margarito is the fact that his name does not generate enough money to lure the big names in the ring.
Margarito (33-4, 24KOs) needed only 74 seconds to blow away Manuel "Shotgun" Gomez (28-11-2, 20 KOs) when the fighters met at the Aladdin Resort in Las Vegas.
From the start, both men came out with bad intentions as they were winging big shots. The two fighters continued to trade until Margarito's signature right hand almost took Gomez's head from his body. A series of four punches put Gomez down to the mat, where he spit out his mouthpiece and appeared to be in serious trouble. Referee Richard Steele immediately stopped the fight.
After the conclusion of the contest, promoter Bob Arum told the press that he would like to match Margarito with the winner of April's clash between Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah. Arum's plan is stage the proposed bout on July 29.
Margarito on the other hand was very skeptical about the willingness of Mayweather, Judah or any of the top welterweights to meet him in the ring. It all comes down to the notion of too much risk being involved for fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Zab Judah or Shane Mosley to put themselves on the line for what they feel are unworthy paydays. Margarito is big welterweight, and in most cases he blows his opponents away with sheer strength, but it also scares away top ten competition.
Over the last ten years, Margairto has built a very impressive record. Many fighters have taken notice that Margarito has not lost at the welterweight level in almost ten years. Most of Margarito's opponents in the last ten years did not make it to the final bell as Margarito stopped 18 out of 23 fighters at the welterweight limit. The last time Margarito lost as a welterweight was in June of 1996. Margarito has also never been stopped in his entire career, a testament to his solid chin.
The only defeat on Margaito's resume in the last ten years was a technical decision loss to WBO light middleweight champion Daniel Santos, in what turned out to be Margarito's first and only major run at the junior middleweight title. The scores at the time of the stoppage were 86-85 Margarito, and 86-85, 87-84 in favor of Santos. The scores reflect just how close the fight was, but Margarito learned a valuable lesson in the bout. He holds a superior advantage in power and physical strength over most welterweights, that was not the case at junior middleweight.
Margarito saw in the Santos fight that junior middleweight was the best stomping grounds for his career and he quickly moved back down to the welterweight limit. Once he came back to the welterweight limit, he got the chance that he was waiting for his entire career last April, a main event showcase on pay-per-view against undefeated Kermit Cintron, who was a rising star at the time of the bout. Margarito needed only 5 rounds to blow away Cintron in what turned out to be a mismatch.
Following the bout, Margarito found it even harder to land fights against top names. Now that his promoter Bob Arum, who also promotes Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, is set on aggressively pursuing a major bout for Margarito, the one big fight that makes him a star could be landing in his lap in the very near future.
On the undercard:
WBC mini-flyweight champion Brian "Hawaiian-Filipino Punch" Viloria (18-0, 12KOs) pounded out a twelve round decision over former champion Jose Antonio Aguirre (33-4-1, 20KOs). Viloria, was stronger man from the opening bell and punished Aguirre down the stretch of the fight. The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111.
Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (24-0-1, 18KOs) gained a measure of revenge when he beat Carlos Molina (8-2-1, 4KOs) by way of a majority decision. The scores were 58-56, 58-56 and 57-57. In their first bout, which ended in a controversial draw, many felt Molina should have been awarded the victory.
While the rematch was still a close affair, Chavez was able to convincingly rally down the stretch to pull off the win.
WBO minimumweight champion Ivan Calderon (25-0, 5KOs) outboxed and outworked Isaac Bustos (24-8-3, 13KOs) on route to an easy twelve round decision. The scores were 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109.
Lightweight Almazbek "Kid Diamond" Raiymkulov (21-1-1, 12KOs), coming back from his disappointing loss TKO loss to Nate Campbell, defeated Jose Quintana (12-11-2, 7KOs) when referee Jay Nady disqualified Quintana in the third round for excessively hitting Raiymkulov with low blows.
Former Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (7-0, 4KOs) stopped Juan Montes De Oca (6-9-2, 3KOs) within three rounds. Oca was down in rounds one and two.