Antonio Margarito (pictured right) has been denied his boxing license in the great state of California by a 5-1 majority vote. The banned license stems from illegal hand wraps being discovered before a fight against Shane Mosely at Staples Center in 2009. As you probably know, Margarito suffered a KO loss that night, unlike the in 2008 when Margarito beat on Miguel Cotto with the hand wraps in place (allegedly). What makes this story relevant is, Mr Margarito is slated to face P4P #2 ranked Manny Pacquiao for a Junior Middleweight Title on November 13th of this year at Cowboys Stadium. The state of Texas was not willing to grant Margarito a boxing license, unless California re-instated him first. So what is the boxing world to do for a fight that was not going to do huge PPV numbers anyway...
1) Texas grants a license anyway and sets a bad precedent for the alleged cheats
2) Pacquiao gets another Bob Arum stabled opponent, maybe Cotto again
3) The fight gets moved to the only place Margartito can fight, Mexico.
All options are viable, but they all leave a queezy ripple in the guts of fight fans the world over. It brings up issues like, the politics of fighting within the same promotion that seems to be becoming the norm. The dud match ups us fans get, I know for damn sure I'm not paying $59.99 to watch Margarito get totally outclassed. Even to a degree, the huge gap in talent from a division that is actually stacked. Another case of getting more questions than answers...
In my humble opinion, I think Margarito should be replaced by Andre Berto or Shane Mosely, since P4P #1 isn't going to get it in anytime soon. Pacquiao would have to move back to Welterweight, but I think the PPV numbers would be much better and the fight itself might be entertaining. To close, I hope Margarito gets banned, can only fight in Mexico and gets beat up by Juan Manuel Marquez.
(In the distant background I hear...) "Bitter... Bitter party of one... Your table is los available..."
- @lostherod
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