By Mark Vester
The internet boards were buzzing when BoxingScene.com's Robert Morales broke the news that Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley was finally a done deal for January 24 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. HBO kicked in more money to satisfy Margarito after the Mexican champ walked away from the negotiating table in protest over the original deal, which directed him to evenly split the money with Mosley. With the extra funds, the numbers were adjusted and everyone is happy.
Margarito has a big money showdown already set in stone with Miguel Cotto for next June. If Margarito is defeated, he will not lose the opportunity to fight Cotto for a second time. Top Rank's Bob Arum has told more than one reporter that if Margarito loses to Mosley, he still plans to make the rematch with Cotto.
Arum's thinking on Margarito-Cotto is not surprising. It's very similiar to what he did in the aftermath of Erik Morales-Zahir Raheem. Morales fought Raheem in September 2005, even though there was a big money rematch in place with Manny Pacquiao for January of the following year. Raheem boxed Morales' ears off and won a twelve-round decision. Even though Morales lost, Arum still went forward with the Pacquiao rematch - and it still did big business.
Arum made the same exact move when Zab Judah was shocked by Carlos Baldomir in January of 2006. There was already a planned pay-per-view with Floyd Mayweather Jr. [then promoted by Arum] for April of the same year. Even though Judah was rocked and shocked by Baldomir, Arum still secured him as the opponent for Mayweather - and once again the fight did decent business.
A Margarito-Cotto rematch will do good business, even with Margarito losing to Mosley. But if Margarito loses, he will lose his WBA title and some serious bargaining power by losing to a guy that Cotto already beat in 2007. His desire to win will still be very strong because a loss may cost him a few extra million against Cotto. The only way their rematch will not go forward is if Cotto loses his comeback fight, scheduled for February 21. There is no finalized opponent for Cotto, but Michael Jennings of England keeps coming up as the frontrunner, with the vacant WBO welterweight title at stake.
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