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By Cliff Rold - Mexican welterweight Antonio Margarito (34-4, 24 KO, #2 Ring Magazine, WBO titlist) is the most underappreciated, underrated, avoided welterweight of his generation.
Or he’s not.
Margarito then is the most overrated, overhyped welterweight of the last two generations.
Or he’s not. Seriously not.
Hardcore fans and many who cover the sport are pretty evenly divided into the two camps described above and there hasn’t been much middle ground. I’m pretty firmly in the first camp.
Much of the divisiveness stems from Margarito’s inability to secure a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the rhetorical wars that have ensued since. In that light, young contender Paul Williams (32-0, 24 KO, #10) of Augusta, Georgia enters the ring unwittingly this Saturday night on HBO as Floyd’s proxy.
Whether fair or not, every opponent for Margarito is a gauge for how Tony might have done, and one day still could do, against the reigning welterweight king.
Thus is the price of pinning so much of one’s career to the tails of a fight that never happened. Margarito, following a win over current IBF titlist Kermit Cintron (27-1, 25 KO) in April 2005 began an aggressive pursuit of a bout with Floyd. Fighting only twice in the twenty-six months following the Cintron bout gave plenty of fuel to Margarito critics for whom absence did not make the heart fonder. It also gave a fighter like Williams time to emerge.
Make no mistake; Williams is a dangerous foe. How dangerous will be unknown until the opening bell sounds at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. A search of his resume provides little in the way of answers. His breakthrough victories, last May against tough Walter Matthysse (26-1, 25 KO) and Sharmba Mitchell last August, impressed but also exposed some holes in Williams’ game. He gets hit and holds his hands low, looking to bring his punches upward with the full leverage of his 6’1 frame. So far his speed and athleticism have covered those holes.
Against a hard hooking veteran like Margarito, holes are targets. Given the lack of respect Margarito’s career engenders from far too many, and the long-term stakes of this bout, he is likely to attack those targets with blue-collar gusto.
The stakes at play? For Margarito, a victory against Williams sets up an earned big-money bout with Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25 KO, #1, WBA titlist) and a chance to stamp himself with the public mandate he likely feels he should have had years ago for a shot at the true World welterweight championship.
And it should have been years ago. Put aside all the he said-he said about Margarito-Mayweather not coming together and what’s left is a record over the last five years that screams ‘how in the hell did it take this long for Margarito to get into position to make some money?’ No fighter in boxing is more deserving of a big-money shot. Margarito detractors (i.e. Mayweather fans under a different name) make points about his style, his ordinary-ness. [details]
Or he’s not.
Margarito then is the most overrated, overhyped welterweight of the last two generations.
Or he’s not. Seriously not.
Hardcore fans and many who cover the sport are pretty evenly divided into the two camps described above and there hasn’t been much middle ground. I’m pretty firmly in the first camp.
Much of the divisiveness stems from Margarito’s inability to secure a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the rhetorical wars that have ensued since. In that light, young contender Paul Williams (32-0, 24 KO, #10) of Augusta, Georgia enters the ring unwittingly this Saturday night on HBO as Floyd’s proxy.
Whether fair or not, every opponent for Margarito is a gauge for how Tony might have done, and one day still could do, against the reigning welterweight king.
Thus is the price of pinning so much of one’s career to the tails of a fight that never happened. Margarito, following a win over current IBF titlist Kermit Cintron (27-1, 25 KO) in April 2005 began an aggressive pursuit of a bout with Floyd. Fighting only twice in the twenty-six months following the Cintron bout gave plenty of fuel to Margarito critics for whom absence did not make the heart fonder. It also gave a fighter like Williams time to emerge.
Make no mistake; Williams is a dangerous foe. How dangerous will be unknown until the opening bell sounds at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. A search of his resume provides little in the way of answers. His breakthrough victories, last May against tough Walter Matthysse (26-1, 25 KO) and Sharmba Mitchell last August, impressed but also exposed some holes in Williams’ game. He gets hit and holds his hands low, looking to bring his punches upward with the full leverage of his 6’1 frame. So far his speed and athleticism have covered those holes.
Against a hard hooking veteran like Margarito, holes are targets. Given the lack of respect Margarito’s career engenders from far too many, and the long-term stakes of this bout, he is likely to attack those targets with blue-collar gusto.
The stakes at play? For Margarito, a victory against Williams sets up an earned big-money bout with Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25 KO, #1, WBA titlist) and a chance to stamp himself with the public mandate he likely feels he should have had years ago for a shot at the true World welterweight championship.
And it should have been years ago. Put aside all the he said-he said about Margarito-Mayweather not coming together and what’s left is a record over the last five years that screams ‘how in the hell did it take this long for Margarito to get into position to make some money?’ No fighter in boxing is more deserving of a big-money shot. Margarito detractors (i.e. Mayweather fans under a different name) make points about his style, his ordinary-ness. [details]
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