It wasn’t long ago that Antonio Margarito was considered one of the most feared fighters in boxing. Then on July 14 at Home Depot Center in Carson, Margarito ran into Paul Williams, who took Margarito’s welterweight belt via unanimous decision.
Now, Margarito is just another in a long line of former world champions who have had to try and win back what they lost. Step one in that regard will come Nov. 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Margarito will take on Golden Johnson on the undercard of the welterweight title fight between champion Miguel Cotto and challenger “Sugar” Shane Mosley.
After his loss to Williams – which came via scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113– Margarito reacted like many fighters who rarely lose do. He swore he won and he couldn’t figure out what the judges were watching.
But Margarito was not still singing that tune Tuesday prior to a workout at the Police Athletic League gym in Montebello, Calif. Rather, he said he knew why he lost, and that he is focused on again becoming world champion.
“I took a lot of criticism for my start,” Margarito said of the slow beginning he had in the fight with Williams. “I didn’t start until the fifth or sixth round. In this fight (with Johnson), I’m going to be throwing punches from the first round. That is what I learned from the last fight. If you throw punches, it doesn’t matter what else happens; the punches count.”
Margarito had suffered just one loss in the past 11 years prior to his defeat at the hands of Williams. That was when Margarito briefly moved up to junior middleweight and challenged Daniel Santos for his title in September 2004. The fight was stopped in the 10th round because of a cut sustained by Margarito courtesy of an accidental head-butt. The bout went to the scorecards. Margarito was ahead by a point on one scorecard, but behind by one and three points on the other two, respectively.
That said, it must have been difficult for Margarito to deal with a very rare blemish onhis record that stands at 34-5 with 24 knockouts. Three of those losses came during the first two years of Margarito’s career, which is 13 years and nine months old.
“I’m going to be honest with you, it hurt a lot,” said Margarito, of Tijuana, Mexico. “Losing hurts. But you have to get over it and get ready for the next fight. Paul Williams is not that much better than me. He had a good night.”
Margarito not only was hurt by the loss, but by the reality that he will be on the undercard on Nov. 10 instead of in the main event. Had he successfully defended his title against Williams, Margarito would have been fighting Cotto in a title unification fight. Mosley was only brought in to fight Cotto because Margarito lost to Williams.
“I should be in the main event fighting Cotto, looking forward to a big fight,” Margarito said. “But these things happen. You have to regroup.”
Margarito is just the man who can do that, said Bob Arum, Margarito’s promoter. We spoke with Arum on Tuesday evening, and Arum sounded confident that Margarito did not come out of the loss to Williams in a weakened mental state, as many fighters do after experiencing the agony of defeat.
“No, not Antonio,” Arum said. “Antonio is going to go out and fight his ass off, whoever he is fighting. And I’m not concerned a bit. I don’t think any of these psychological problems will affect Antonio in the least. He is very strong mentally. He is a real professional. That is what I admire about him. He puts everything aside and concentrates on his next fight. The true pros do that in any sport.”
Margarito said he has left no stone unturned regarding his upcoming fight with Johnson (25-7-3, 18 KOs), who is solid, but has never been on Margarito’s level. Margarito said he has watched plenty of tape on Johnson because, “I don’t want no surprises in the ring.”
Should Margarito dispatch Johnson – and that should not be a problem – the question is, what’s next? A rematch with Williams? Margarito said he would like that.
“I don’t mind fighting him again,” Margarito said. “I would like to fight him and get that title back.”
However, Margarito seemed to be under the impression that he will be getting the winner of Cotto-Mosley should he defeat Johnson. (Take note that Cotto is promoted by Arum and Mosley is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, president Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer residing.)
“I’m the next guy and I’m looking forward to fighting the winner,” Margarito, 29, said.
Hold on right there. According to Arum, that scenario is anything but a certainty.“If Mosley happens to win, I can’t talk for Shane,” Arum said. “That is Richard Schaefer and Golden Boy. But it seems logical that Margarito would figure in. Shane is the kind of fighter that fights all comers. I would anticipate that is pretty likely.”
If Cotto wins, then Margarito should be a shoe-in to fight him next, right? After all, Arum promotes both fighters. But therein lies the most interesting part of this equation. If Cotto is victorious, he could very well take on none other than De La Hoya next.
“If Cotto wins, I control that more,” Arum said. “The only thing that would stand in the way of a Cotto-Margarito match is if Oscar was available to fight Cotto in May. And Oscar sort of indicated to me that would be a possibility.”
Needless to say, Arum is not going to pass up the chance to co-promote a De La Hoya-Cotto fight that would have a chance to break the 2 million mark in pay-per-view buys, as did De La Hoya’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May.
If that fight gets made, Margarito might very well end up back in the ring with Williams, the lanky southpaw who has caused Margarito all kinds of misery