ShareThisDALLAS, Texas – Top British promoter Frank Warren thinks that Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao could lose to Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in their November 13 showdown at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Manny Pacquiao
This developed as Pacquiao’s coach, Freddie Roach, still remains unmoved by his opinion that the Filipino champion will be going up against a boxer who have used loaded gloves in the past.
Talking in an interview with Boxing Scene’s Robert Morales, the famed boxing trainer revealed he is convinced that former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito knew of the loaded hand wraps —and may have even used it in sparring and actual fights — found in him prior to his January 2009 showdown with Shane Mosley.
Margarito’s camp, on the other hand, refused to ignore Roach’s continuous claims and instead shot back at the Filipino champion’s trainer almost immediately.
“Should I start talking about anti-doping and stuff like that?” Margarito’s co-manager Francisco Espinosa said.
Rumors were cited claiming Pacquiao used performance-enhancing drugs to aid him in his big-time wins against bigger and heavier fighters — victories that catapulted him to fame and near greatness.
Warren, who promoted some of the biggest British fighters—Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Amir Khan—conceded that Pacquiao’s rise from flyweight to welterweight “has been little short of phenomenal.”
“Against Margarito, though, he [Pacquiao] could be in trouble,” said the British promoter in an article he wrote for BoxingScene.com.
“The Mexican [Margarito] is naturally the bigger man and is very, very tough,” he added.
Warren said that he would like to see Pacquiao win “for the good of the sport,” and that a victory by the Filipino, now the best boxer in the world pound-for-pound, could pave the way to a mega match with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“But I still fear Margarito may upset that [possible match],” he added.
In order to win, Warren said that the Filipino boxing icon should come to the fight at his best, especially so because he is going into an uncharted weight territory.
He noted reports of a distracted Pacquiao, who was elected congressman of Sarangani province in May this year.
“Manny needs to give 100-percent concentration to the serious business of the fight, which sees him move up to light-middleweight for the first time,” Warren said.
Top Rank Chief Executive Bob Arum, who promotes both Pacquiao and Margarito, earlier observed the Filipino boxing superstar’s seeming lack of focus during a visit to the Pacquiao training camp in the Philippines.
Arum has since changed his tune, especially after Pacquiao’s training moved to his trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
“I think both fighters will come in tremendous shape. I was at Margarito’s camp in Oxnard, and I can tell Margarito is looking very, very sharp,” he said by telephone.
“And I saw Manny spar last Thursday against bigger men. He looked quite impressive, and I know he will be in top shape by fight night,” Arum added.
He said that he thinks that if both fighters come to fight true to form, the battle for the vacant World Boxing Council junior middleweight title could end up a “classic fight.”
When asked what previous classic match-up Pacquiao-Margarito can be compared with, Arum replied, “Leonard-Hagler,” referring to the epic April 6, 1987 ring war between “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard, who went up in weight from welterweight to challenge the heavier Hagler.
That classic clash for the world middleweight title held by undisputed champion Hagler was won by Leonard via split decision, a verdict so close and controversial it continues to be the staple of conversation among serious students of the sweet science to this day.