By Lem Satterfield
ARLINGTON, Texas - Friday's weigh-in for tonight's WBC junior middleweight title clash was interesting for two reasons. WBO welterweight king Manny Pacquiao came in much lower than anyone expected when he tipped the scale at 144.6-pounds. Antonio Margarito, ripped and chiseled beyond belief, made the contract weight of 150-pounds. There have been some insiders who believe Margarito stuggled down to make the weight. Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, is one of them.
"We thought that Margarito looked pretty drawn, like he had trouble making the weight," said Roach. "He made the contracted weight, and he did what he was supposed to do."
Margarito's manager, Sergio Diaz, doesn't see any problems and thinks the gap in weight will work in his fighter's favor.
"That's a six-pound difference. That's a lot. I think that will mean that Pacquiao will weight at around 147 tomorrow at the fight. So we'll be at around 160 or 162, and that's an advantage for us," said Diaz. "Advantages don't mean much, though. We've got to win the fight."
Margarito is confident of victory. He says there were "no weight issues" and he's not paying any attention to Pacquiao's lower than expected weight figure.
"It doesn't make a difference. He could have weighed the same thing as I did, and it wouldn't matter," said Margarito. "That's not my business. I'm prepared very well for this fight, and that's all that matters."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
