Death Wish: Why wasn’t Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito stopped?
By Damien Norman
As everybody but Margarito faithful’s predicted, on 13th November Manny Pacquiao was victorious in becoming the WBC Light Middleweight Champ against Antonio Margarito, but why was the fight allowed to go to a decision?
It was clear early in the fight that Margarito did not have the speed, skills or power to get close to Pacquiao let alone seriously hurt him or have any chance to win the fight but with Margarito’s face a mess the fight was allowed to go on right till the end where Pacquiao was eventually victorious by unanimous decision.
Pacquiao and his corner stated after the fight that it should have been stopped earlier and we all know with Boxers that at times they need saving from themselves. We couldn’t expect Margarito to pull out and surely that is the job of the men in his corner. We were all expecting the ringside doctor to stop it too, but this did not happen and it eventually went to a decision. We can only applaud such a gallant effort from Margarito and he showed how badly he wanted to win; lets hope Audley Harrison visits “Youtube” and sees what real boxers were up to that night!
Margarito was taken to hospital and it was announced that he has suffered a fracture to his “right orbital bone”. He was treated at the Dallas Methodical Hospital and we have since been informed that the surgery was a success and there is no permanent damage caused.
So, with the fight going the way that the majority of us predicted the real question is why didn’t the referee stop the action earlier? On the same night we saw an absolutely pathetic World Heavyweight Title bout between David Haye and Audley Harrison and the referee stopped the action in the 3rd round from a small flurry of shots from Haye on Harrison. Why did the referee stop it?
There was no blood coming from Harrison or any visible injuries, he was still stood on his feet (albeit off balance) when the ref intervened and appeared to be fine so what justified the stoppage? It is quite sad really when you compare this bout with the Pacquiao Margarito battle. Two completely different fights yet one is allowed to continue with a fighter in a real bad way and the other is stopped just because the opponent has landed a few shots.
Clearly you should give the fighter every possible chance to sustain a comeback or ride a storm in a fight so to speak, but the whole World knew Margarito had lost and again, looking at the Haye Harrison tiddly- winks match there was nothing that would worry anyone in terms of serious injuries, so some quite controversial refereeing as ever and things to be looked into.
With that said, what options does Antonio Margarito have available to him now? One thing for certain is that his fiasco with the illegal hand wraps will now seem like a distant cry and, although he took an unnecessary beating will be remembered for giving it a real go and showing some great heart.
It would be sensible for Margarito to call it a day now. He has some great wins as a Professional Boxer but also some crushing defeats; 7 in total. This is obviously his worst defeat but it was crystal clear that he was not in the same league as Manny Pacquiao. There are fights available to him but what would be left to achieve? He obviously has his fans and a massive amount of pride that was clearly on display in the fight with Manny but there comes a point where you have to look at it from a completely different angle and take your health and well-being into account.
This was a fight that probably didn’t need to happen and furthermore there was a whole load of punishment that probably didn’t need to be dished out, but he has had this shot at the big time and unfortunately for him could not take it.
Looking forward it seems a cert that Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather JR. finally get in the ring and settle the score once and for all. Although a hard fight Pacquiao’s victory against Margarito did not leave him with any war scars and in truth could probably fight again tomorrow if the opportunity knocked. Mayweather has his usual shenanigans going on outside of the ring and is now facing court over assaulting a guard over parking violations.
It is never boring in the life of Mayweather but moving away from his personal business it is surely now time that the score is finally settled in the ring. The pair getting it on has been covered by media all over the World and has to happen in 2011.
It is frustrating watching Pacquiao walking through the likes of Margarito when we all knew what was going to happen before they even made their entrances. You can’t blame Margarito and his team for taking the fight and it is obvious that they made sure their man was in the best shape possible going in to the fight but I am sure that even they knew deep down that Pacquiao was a step too far for him. Margarito comes out with a great deal of respect from me for his efforts but my feeling with Pacquiao is basically “… and what now!?”
It would be easy to be hyper critical of “Pac Man” and the old saying always prevails that you can only beat what’s in front of you but Boxing of late is plummeting and we need the likes of him to stop taking these hand picked opponents and to take on the guys that we know are the only real tests.