I know this may sound absolutely ludicrous and it's a total 180 from the beliefs that I stand firm on, but here I go...for all that's good in the boxing world, I want Antonio Margarito, more than anything in the world, to defeat Manny Pacquiao on November 13th.
My original stance was that it would be a big black eye for boxing if Margarito would have beaten the number one pound-for-pound fighter of our time only one fight removed from being suspended for trying to use illegal hand wraps. A Margarito victory would be a laughing stock, I thought. While the rabid Pacquiao fan base would no doubt come to their hero's rescue, even then, there wouldn't be words for how shocking of a loss this would be to Pacquiao and to boxing. However, a conversation with my editor, Ben Thompson, convinced me to wonder if a Margarito win would necessarily be so bad.
Pacquiao hasn't fought an opponent who his handlers weren't absolutely certain he'd beat since he fought Juan Manuel Marquez way back at 130 pounds. Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey may have been perceived as hard fights, but Top Rank and Freddie Roach knew that Pacquiao would win those fights with no problem. Should Pacquiao come up short against Margarito, yet continue to pick and choose his opponents, it'd be hard not to point the finger at his handlers for finding easy fights. Thus, a loss for Pacquiao would be a huge loss for Top Rank, seeing that they've exhausted all their options should they plan to continue to keep all the fights under their roof. Yuri Foreman was dominated by Cotto in nine rounds, Pacquiao has already fought Joshua Clottey, Cotto and Margarito, and neither Vanes Martirosian nor Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. are anywhere near a fight of that capacity yet. That would mean that if Pacquiao wanted to fight his way back into contention, he'd finally have to pick outside of the safety of the Top Rank umbrella, something that his promoter, Bob Arum, has been reluctant to do as of late.
Margarito, as a jr. middleweight champion, would lead to much more interesting fights. Particularly, rematches against Cotto, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez would all look that much more interesting. And who wouldn't salivate at a potential fight with Alfredo Angulo? Pacquiao, on the other hand, won't take any of those fights if he were to win. They're too risky at the higher weight and, stylistically, they're a bad matchup for him. While there always is the possibility of making those fights with a catchweight clause, Martinez and Williams probably wouldn't have too much trouble making the weight in the first place, thus making a catchweight a moot point, and those bouts a much bigger risk for Pacquiao.
So what fight are we going to get next if Pacquiao is able to defeat Margarito and win the 154-pound title on November 13? I'll tell you. All we're gonna get is another round of pointless "negotiations" between he and Mayweather, but this time, Top Rank will say they're upping their purse split demands because Pacquiao has won another title in an eighth weight class and beaten a fighter that Mayweather has ducked. That, in turn, will lead to Mayweather's camp abandoning talks altogether, Pacquaio fighting Lamont Peterson or Humberto Soto at 145 pounds, and thus, wasting another three months of our lives. Thanks, but no thanks. At this point, I'd rather have Margarito save us the trouble.
In reality, Pacquiao-Margarito is probably going to follow script and it will go something like this: Pacquiao is going to be too fast for the lumbering, feather-fisted Margarito, who will take his best shots and keep coming forward, before Pacquiao eventually chops him down and wins via knockout. Following the fight, Pacquiao will thank God and his fans and won't bother talking about Mayweather. After all, that's what Freddie Roach and Bob Arum are there for.
While I'm going to skip the fight altogether, I fully expect that Pacquiao will win, but I won't be shocked or angered if Margarito can pull off the upset. Maybe rooting for the bad guy isn't always a bad thing, especially when the possibility of bettering the competition of the sport is a potential payoff.