Texas Hold’em: Bob Arum, Antonio Margarito & Manny Pacquiao Betting on the Fans’ Stupidity
By Geno McGahee
Surprise! Texas allowing Antonio “Hands of Plaster” Margarito to fight displays once again why boxing is a frowned upon sport. In November, Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao will now face Margarito in a highly publicized pay per view, and HBO will certainly be doing a 24/7 series on this.
The sale here isn’t the fight. The sale here is the controversy and Bob Arum is certain that the fans will be dumb enough to buy that rather then this mismatch. The promotion will focus on the use of Plaster of Paris rather than avoid it. The blame will certainly be shifted, but they want that element involved in the promotion.
Let’s face it. Shane Mosley beat Margarito to a bloody pulp, leaving him in a mangled heap without much in return. The punches landed by Margarito had zero effect on Sugar Shane, which would cause any rational person to draw the conclusion that without the plaster, he doesn’t have it. When he has the loaded gloves, good fighters like Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto are devastated. I’m sure that had the playing field been level, Margarito would have certainly lost to Cotto and would not have left Cintron on the floor on two occasions.
Margarito’s punches not making a dent against old Mosley says a lot, considering that Floyd Mayweather, JR., rattled Sugar Shane on several occasions and he is not known for his incredible punching power. You have to assume that there will be no plaster on the fists of Margarito come fight night with Pacquiao and with that being the case, how can he possibly win?
The answer is that he cannot.
I am not even certain that Bob Arum wanted Pacquiao to face off with Floyd Mayweather, JR. There would have been a fortune involved, but a lot of risk. The most likely scenario if Floyd and Manny were to fight would be a decision win for Mayweather. He’s got the defense and the skills to control Pacquiao and may even have the power to stop him, and this bout would be basically a cashing out for the Filipino star. His marketability would plummet and he would have to fight his way back to PPV and would not sell as well.
Enter Margarito.
A fight with Margarito presents easy money and a big payday. The sell is the exact reason why boxing should not buy this fight. We are going to see the allegations examined and everyone is going to play dumb. Poor Margarito was duped and had no idea that he had plaster in his gloves. It’s a lie.
HBO will sell it in the 24/7 series from the best perspective to sell the event. And Margarito will say something along the lines that he would never have stepped into the ring with his hands in that fashion…shades of Luis Resto.
Resto went to prison for loaded gloves and never was allowed to fight again. Margarito was not only allowed to fight again and avoided jail time, but he is getting one of the biggest, if not the biggest, payday of his career. The bad behavior is being rewarded and it sends out a bad example to the public of what boxing is.
When Mike Tyson was fouling, Riddick Bowe was sucker-punching at press conferences, and Ike Ibeabuchi was raping, it made the news. Boxing is associated with seediness and with not giving anyone a fair break. Now, we have this. We have a guy with loaded gloves facing off against a fighter with steroids allegations. So much for the sport going to the networks, huh? And this is one of the biggest fights of the year, only because pound for pound great, Pacquiao, is headlining.
Some have said that this is going to be a beating of a bad guy…Margarito is going to get punished for cheating but it is pure idiocy. He can get punched in the face for 10 thousand dollars or get punched in the face for 10 million. He will get beat up, sure, but when he gets out of the ring that night with check in hand and a future of fighting in the states, making more money, he will be one happy man.
How about this…
Antonio Margarito wins! What if we have an upset? Pacquiao runs into a punch or they don’t inspect well enough and we have some more funny business…now where does boxing go from here? This opportunity is dangerous for the sport and this pay per view exemplifies what makes boxing the side show that it is labeled. We, the fans, need to take the 60 dollars that we would typically spend on a fight like this and go out to dinner with it, go bowling with it, gamble it away…but don’t buy this fight.
This is a rare opportunity for the boxing fans to make a statement and say that we are not for a cheater, a man that could have killed Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto with literal bricks on his hand, making a fortune and benefiting from a top ranking acquired through loading his gloves. If we just say no to the fight and wait for the replay on HBO if you want to see it that badly, the following week, then they may just think twice about shoveling this trash our way again.
I will save everyone the 60 dollars right now. Manny is going to win. He’s going to win by punishing TKO. Margarito doesn’t have a punch without the plaster, proven by his loss to Shane Mosley. Put him in there with Pacquiao is having him run into a tank and Pacquiao will look like a million bucks and then will challenge Floyd Mayweather, JR., again, and Arum will dig up another no-hoper with an angle to step into the ring with Manny for big money and little risk.
Hold on to your money people. Think about the big picture and don’t give Margarito or Arum your hard earned money. Everyone involved in this travesty should be ashamed.