By Charles Jay 

Francisco Espinosa may not be getting next year's Manager of the Year award, but then again, he just might. Espinosa, who handles Antonio Margarito, has his charge fighting #1 WBO contender Paul Williams instead of Miguel Angel Cotto in his next fight - at least the way it stands now. Reportedly Bob Arum, who has both Margarito and Cotto under a promotional agreement, offered Margarito $1.2 million and later upped that to $1.8 million, but Margarito chose to fight Williams and not be stripped of his WBO welterweight crown rather than dump the belt and fight for the WBA championship on June 9 against Cotto.
 
Now Arum wants to sue Margarito (and everyone else), despite the fact that there was no contract in place for the Cotto match. Arum maintains that he stayed out a purse bid for Maragrito-Williams because Espinosa assured him that bout was never going to take place, and that the Cotto fight was virtually a done deal. Maybe "virtually" is the operative word here. Dan Goosen won the purse bid with a $1.5 million offer, and Margarito has elected not to be stripped.
 
Espinosa thinks Williams is an easier fight than Cotto. I may disagree, to an extent, but maybe that's because I don't see Cotto as so sensational, the way a lot of people do. Espinosa figures that even though Williams is a tall southpaw, and tall southpaws generally bring trouble, that he's not an especially strong puncher and has never been in the ring with anyone approaching the all-around ability of his man.
 
He's not wrong about that.
 
So Margarito gets his $1.2 million purse and will have to spend some of it defending against an Arum lawsuit. It may be true that Top Rank has an exclusive promotional deal with Margarito, but since it had knowledge that a written contract wasn't in place, should have known enough to protect itself by participating in the purse bid. You see though, the problem is that it wouldn't have served Cotto's purposes from the Top Rank perspective.

And in this era where promoters have so much control; when one of them has a deal in place with both sides of a fight, there is invariably going to be a rooting interest for one of those sides over the other, because it will be the side that can produce the most money down the road. Right now, Margarito is not really a big draw, but I guess they think Cotto is.
 
Additionally, I don't know that Arum could have guaranteed Margarito ANYTHING at this point, because Cotto still has to fight Oktay Urkal in his own mandatory defense next month. And Espinosa correctly points out that if Urkal should happen to win, Margarito can find himself out of both a title and a title fight, and I doubt anyone would be passing the hat for him.

I'm not sure that even with the existence of a promotional contract, a promoter, who is not legally obligated to act in a fiduciary fashion toward a fighter, can mandate that the fighter intentionally diminish his own marketability by allowing himself to be stripped of a world championship, unless there was some indemnification agreement in writing to cover that contingency.
 
Look, Top Rank is a solid promotional outfit, but there has to be a distinction between what the promoter's function is and what the manager's function is, and here, Espinosa is doing the right thing; maybe not in terms of what the ultimate outcome of all this is going to be (that's something only the fighter's performance can dictate), but in terms of what his intention is.
 
He's being a manager - and you can't blame him for that.
******
 
Saturday night north of the border - Canada has a new heavyweight hope, I guess. It's David Cadieux, who's 14-1 with a couple of victories over Patrick L'Heureux, who was previously a Canadian hope before he became somewhat hopeless. By Canadian standards, Cadieux gets a test in Montreal as he faces off against veteran trialhorse Ross Puritty, who has more credentials than any circuit loser has a right to. If you're not familiar with him, Puritty was once a dangerous man.

For example, he was the first guy to pin a defeat on Wladimir Klitschko, when he made him "retire" before the eleventh round of a WBC International title fight in December of 1998. Puritty has also beaten one-time names like Joe Hipp and Jorge Luis Gonzalez, and has a draw with Tommy Morrison. On The Charles Jay Line, we'll make you lay 12/1 (-1200) with Cadieux ( https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107747 )..............
 
Over in Germany, former cruiserweight champ Juan Carlos Gomez, who's been campaigning as a heavyweight for the last four years or so, will spend a leisurely Saturday night taking advantage of the lack of talent of one Adenilson Rodrigues, who is certainly not as hard as most Brazilian nuts.

Rodrigues has been stopped within two or three rounds by all opponents who possess basic motor skills, so The Charles Jay Line makes it -130 that it will end before the bell to begin the third ( https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107681 ). Either way, Gomez scores an easy little payday, maybe enough to make up for the disappointment of his fight in October of 2005 against Oliver McCall, which he won solidly on all three judges' cards but had the win nullified when he tested positive for cocaine after the bout. Who said the crafty Cuban southpaw didn't have the "white stuff"?
 
Former WBA heavyweight Brice Seldon is still around. No - make that  "Former WBA heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon is still AROUND?" Yeah, he's fighting Marcus Rhode on Saturday in Philadelphia, at a Jewish Community Center no less. What, those guys aren't pacifists over there? Well, maybe they are - Rhode has been non-combative for the most part, suffering six second-round knockout losses in the last three years, including one as the hand-picked comeback opponent for Riddick Bowe.

The Heavyweight Otherwise Known As "Bruce Seldom" (just four fights since being KO'd by Mike Tyson, which happened when I was in diapers) was last seen falling in two rounds to Tye "Strawberry" Fields in October of 2005. The Charles Jay Line makes it -140 that this gets into Round 3 ( https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107685 ), but only because Seldon might be rusty...........
 
Jamie Clampitt retained her IWBF women's lightweight title last night in Providence with a near-shutout decision over Mia St. John. No, Jamie is not related to Jethro or Ellie Mae, but she is the wife of Ted Panagiotis, the former matchmaker for Jimmy Burchfield and CES Entertainment (Clampitt's promoter) who is now doing some freelance matchmaking and working for a surfboard company.

Panagiotis has now had a couple of amateur bouts of his own to boot, so I can definitely see the husband-wife double main event coming soon. Or, considering where they are in their respective fistic careers, the wife-husband double main..........
 
I see where Sugar Ray Leonard is going to train Peter Manfredo for his WBO super middleweight challenge against Joe Calzaghe on April 7. I think that greatly increases Manfredo's chances, if (a) Manfredo can at some point tag out to Leonard, and Sugar Ray could step into the ring, turn back the clock about 20 years, and start throwing those left hook combinations to the head and body, or (b) If firearms are involved. Otherwise, the Charles Jay Line would have Manfredo an 18/1 shot to come out of Cardiff with a win.........
 
Keep an eye on this website. I will be holding a press conference tomorrow to announce that I am NOT the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child.
 
At least I'm reasonably sure of it.