Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito

Antonio Margarito Montiel (born on March 18, 1978 in Torrance, California) is a Mexican-American professional boxer. He is a former World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation, and World Boxing Organization Welterweight champion. Margarito's reputation was tarnished by an incident in which his corner is alleged to have tampered with his hand wraps prior to his bout with Shane Mosley, which were found by the CSAC to contain sulfur and calcium which, when combined with oxygen, forms "Plaster of Paris". He's trained by former IBF Super Featherweight Champion Roberto García. Antonio also manages IBF Lightweight Champion Miguel Vazquez. Margarito resides in Tijuana, Mexico with his wife Michelle Margarito. He is known for his iron chin and his brawler-like fighting style.

Amateur career

Margarito compiled a record of 18-3 in his relatively brief amateur career, indicating that he may have turned pro quickly due to financial concerns.

Professional career

Welterweight

Margarito made his debut at the age of 15, beating Jose Trujillo in Tijuana by decision. On April 25, he achieved his first knockout, defeating Victor Angulo in the second round. On October 17 he suffered his first defeat, a six round decision to Victor Lozoya. Over the next six bouts he went 4-2. Following that he went 28-2-1, with notable wins over Alfred Ankamah, Juan Soberanes, future world Middleweight Champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez, Buck Smith, David Kamau and Frankie Randall, a former World Jr. welterweight champion who became the first man to beat Julio César Chávez in 91 fights.

WBO Welterweight Championship

On July 21, 2001, he got his first world title try against southpaw Daniel Santos for the WBO World Welterweight crown, at Bayamón, Puerto Rico's Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum. The fight had to be stopped in the first round as a consequence of a clash of heads that opened deep gashes on both fighters and sent them both to a nearby hospital. Because the fight had not gone four rounds or more for a technical decision to be awarded, it was declared a no contest, and Santos retained the belt.

Capturing the title

Santos then vacated the WBO World Welterweight title to go up in weight and pursue the WBO's world Jr. Middleweight championship, and Margarito was assigned to fight Antonio Díaz for the vacant world crown, in front of an HBO Boxing audience. On March 16, 2002, Margarito crowned himself world champion, beating Diaz by knockout in round ten. He defended that crown with a decision in twelve over Danny Perez Ramírez and a knockout in two over former WBA world champion Andrew Lewis. Lewis was a southpaw and a hard puncher, but had been exposed as having a weak chin. Margarito proved that he has a world class chin. He publicly asked for a unification bout with then WBC and WBA world champion Ricardo Mayorga.

At this point Margarito considered going up in weight, to try to lure Fernando Vargas, Oscar De La Hoya or Shane Mosley into a lucrative fight, or Santos into a rematch at the Jr. Middleweight division. On October 17, 2003, Margarito made his Jr. Middleweight division debut with a two round knockout win over Maurice Brantley in Phoenix, Arizona.

On January 31, 2004, and back in the Welterweight division, he retained his title with a second round knockout of Canada's previously undefeated Hercules Kyvelos.

WBO Light Middleweight Championship

Margarito did face Daniel Santos in a rematch on September 11 of the same year, at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, for Santos' WBO world Jr. Middleweight title. The rematch also ended because of a headbutt, but this time, as the fight had already reached the four rounds mark needed for fights like these to be decided by judges, Margarito lost by a split ten round technical decision. He was down on two scorecards when the fight was stopped.

On April 23, 2005, Margarito retained his WBO world Welterweight title against another Puerto Rican, undefeated world class puncher Kermit Cintron, dropping him four times on his way to a fifth round knockout. This was regarded as one of his best wins.

After almost a ten month layoff, Margarito returned to the boxing ring on February 18, 2006, retaining his title with a first round knockout of Jaime Manuel Gomez, who had lasted eleven rounds with Mosley for the IBF world Lightweight title eight and a half years before.

On December 2, 2006, Margarito defeated future champion Joshua Clottey by a twelve round unanimous decision. Margarito set a Compubox all-time record of 1675 total punches thrown in a twelve round bout.

Losing the title and regaining it

On July 14, 2007, Margarito lost a unanimous 12 round decision to undefeated challenger Paul Williams, losing his WBO belt. After the bout Margarito heavily disputed the decision, claiming that he had landed the most meaningful punches. Williams, however, landed the most punches (outhitting Margarito by almost a 2-1 ratio, and throwing an average of over 100 punches per round) according to compubox.

On April 12, 2008, Margarito engaged in a rematch with Cintron, who had won the IBF welterweight title belt following his loss to Margarito in 2005. In the early rounds, Cintron struck Margarito with several flush power shots to the head, but Margarito remained unhurt and continued to execute a game plan of continuously moving forward and pressuring Cintron. In the sixth round, Margarito landed a liver shot, knocking Cintron out and taking the IBF title. As the referee counted Cintron out, HBO cameras captured Margarito, from a neutral corner, gesturing upward with his arms and urging Cintron to get up so that the two men could continue fighting for a longer period of time.

Tampered handwraps controversy

Controversy erupted before the fight when Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, observed that Margarito had a pasty white substance in his handwraps. One doctor described this material as plaster hidden in the wrapped hands of Margarito, leading to accusations that he may have been trying to cheat. At Richardson's insistence, California State Inspector Dean Lohuis called for Margarito's hands to be rewrapped. According to Judd Burstein, the attorney for Mosley, Margarito had wet pads in the wrapping. Mosley's doctor, Robert Olvera, likened the material to the type of plaster used to make casts. Burstein said he seized the pad removed from the wrapping and another pad found in Margarito's dressing room. Both were placed in a sealed box that was given to Lohuis for further study. The California Department of Justice laboratory later confirmed the substance to be similar in nature to plaster of Paris.

In late January, the California State Athletic Commission suspended Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, pending investigation. At the hearing, Margarito claimed he did not know what was in the wraps, while Capetillo admitted to making "a big mistake" by placing the wrong inserts into Margarito's hand wraps. The commission voted unanimously to revoke Margarito and Capetillo's licenses for at least one year. While it found Margarito did not know about the gloves, it took the line that as head of the team, he was responsible for Capetillo's actions. Since state boxing commissions generally honor suspensions imposed in other states, this action effectively banned Margarito from boxing in the United States.

In November 2009, it emerged that red stains on the hand wraps Margarito used in the Cotto fight were similar to the stains on the inserts seized before the Mosley fight. This has raised suspicions that Margarito's gloves were loaded for that fight, and possibly others as well.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito, billed as World Super Welterweight Championship, was a Super Welterweight fight for the WBC Super Welterweight championship. The bout was held on November 13, 2010, at Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, United States. The match was put together after the second negotiation for the long awaited "superfight" between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. had failed. Pacquiao defeated Margarito by unanimous decision.

Despite his smaller size (5'6 1/2" vs Margarito's 5'11") and lower weight (148 lbs vs. Margarito's 165 lbs)[1] Pacquiao hammered Margarito with his superior speed and technique. Margarito sustained three cuts, prompting Pacquiao to ask the referee, Laurence Cole, to stop the fight. Ringside commentators agreed as well that the fight should have been stopped.

The fight went the distance with Pacquiao winning via unanimous decision over Margarito. Pacquiao almost knocked out Margarito in the 4th round with a left hook to the body and in the 6th round Margarito connected a solid left hook to the body that sent Pacquiao into the ropes and almost down. Judges' scores were Juergen Langos 120–108, Glen Rick Crocker 118–110, and Oren Shellenberger 119–109 in favor of Pacquiao. Pacquiao landed 474 out of 1069 punches (44%) while Margarito landed 229 out of 817 (28%). Out of those punches Pacquiao landed 411/713 power punches thrown (58%) while Margarito landed 135 out of 312 (43%).

Due to his injuries, Margarito's post-fight interview was skipped and he was sent directly to the hospital after the fight. Margarito had to undergo surgery as it was discovered that his right orbital bone had been fractured.

In the post-fight interview, Pacquiao was asked if he held back during the last round, and Pacquiao said he just let the 3 minutes run out and that "Boxing is not for killing" (quote). Pacquiao also stated "I did not want to damage him permanently."

The fight generated 1.15 million buys and 64 million dollars in revenue.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manny_Pacquiao_vs._Antonio_Margarito