Notebook: Margarito to make title defense Oct. 7
Whether Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights Antonio Margarito or not, Margarito will defend his title Oct. 7 in a pay-per-view fight at Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com.
"I am ready to go with a Margarito fight and to back it up with a great undercard," Arum said.
Without Mayweather or Wright, Arum's next choice as the opponent is Carlos Quintana, who put on an impressive performance last week in outpointing hot prospect Joel "Love Child" Julio on HBO.
"I like that one because it's a Mexican vs. Puerto Rican match, which fans love," Arum said. "We've been talking to Quintana's people and they are interested."
The win against Julio made Quintana the mandatory for winner another welterweight title bout between Ricky Hatton and Oktay Urkal. However, Quintana is interested in fighting Margarito.
"A Margarito fight would be something we would consider strongly," said Ron Katz of Quintana promoter Northeast Promotions. "Our first priority is to fight Hatton or Urkal. We have to wait to see what develops with that situation, but Margarito is something we would be open to do."
Arum said Joshua Clottey, whose contract he just bought from Lou DiBella, is a more remote possibility to face Margarito.
Arum, who has the arena on hold as well as support from casino partners Caesars Palace and the Wynn resort, said he offered Winky Wright $4 million to fight Margarito Oct. 7 in a junior middleweight fight, but Wright turned it down because he wanted the same $8 million Arum has offered Mayweather.
"He doesn't want to do it because he is insulted because it is not what I offered Mayweather," Arum said. "Well the fights aren't the same, and that's still more money than Winky made to fight Jermain Taylor."
Mayweather turned down a Margarito fight in order to pursue a megafight with Oscar De La Hoya. But now that De La Hoya won't fight again until at least next spring, Arum said he is disappointed that Mayweather won't take the fight.
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| Mayweather |
"I offered him $8 million with an upside [of the pay-per-view revenue], which is by far the most he ever got," Arum said. "He just doesn't want to fight Margarito even though it is the most money and the most makeable fight. I didn't ask for options or futures. It's a one-off, so that can't be the issue. He just doesn't want to fight Margarito and I can't blame him. He's bigger and stronger than this kid, and he will eventually catch him and hurt him. That why they're afraid of Margarito."
Mayweather could be awaiting the outcome of the July 15 Shane Mosley-Fernando Vargas rematch because another Mosley victory could pave the way to a Mayweather-Mosley fight, which would be big.
However, Arum is skeptical.
"No. 1, Mosley has to win and not be damaged," he said. "And he has to agree to go back to training. There's a very short window there and Shane hasn't agreed to any of those things.
"Then how much money is there in that fight? Is there more than a Margarito fight? Yes. But in a Margarito fight, Floyd is taking the bulk of the money. Mosley isn't going to settle for less than half, so Floyd would make less money. And what happens if Mosley isn't available, or he loses, or he gets injured or just doesn't want the fight? What will Mayweather do for the rest of the year? Then he can't fight early next year early because he's waiting to see what Oscar does.
"So Mr. Pound For Pound is looking at a situation where he doesn't fight for a year, and at his age and status, that is criminal. He loses a year. How many years does he have? Maybe five. At his weight, they don't go past 35.
"Giving Floyd $8 million for a Margarito fight is risky for me anyway, but I am willing to take the risk. He has no excuse for not fighting the guy. He just doesn't want to fight the guy."
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| Larios |
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| Pacquiao |
The former junior featherweight champions square off in a 12-round junior lightweight bout Sunday morning (PPV, 9 p.m. ET Saturday in the U.S.) in the Philippines, where Pacquiao is a national icon.They will fight in the Manila suburb of Quezon City at historic Araneta Coliseum, which played host to the legendary third battle between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier ("The Thrilla in Manila") more than 30 years ago.
"I am very excited to be fighting in Manila in front of so many fans and for my countrymen," Pacquiao said. "I feel some extra pressure to win this fight because I am fighting at home and because I fight for the pride of my country."
Pacquiao, who could be distracted because of all the hoopla surrounding his homecoming fight, needs to get past Larios to set up huge future business.
He has a tentative Nov. 18 HBO PPV fight against rival Erik Morales riding on the outcome. Morales outpointed Pacquiao in March 2005 but Pacquiao knocked him out in their January rematch.
Pacquiao also has a potential big-money rematch looming against 130-pound champ Marco Antonio Barrera, whom Pacquiao knocked out in their first meeting for the world featherweight title. Pacquiao said he would be happy to give Barrera a rematch in his first bout of 2007.
"Larios is a major roadblock to my rematches against Morales and Barrera," Pacquiao said. "And to smooth out my road to those fights, I'm going to steamroll Larios. I'm going to knock him out so hard, fans watching on pay-per-view will think Larios is going to come through their TV screens."
Larios is moving up two weight classes to fight Pacquiao after losing his 122-pound title via third-round TKO to Israel Vazquez in December. Still, Larios figures to be a dangerous opponent, and he certainly sounds as though he is taking the fight seriously.
"I've been training for over a month in Japan getting acclimated to the time and the environment while Manny has been globetrotting playing movie star and Mr. Nightlife," Larios said. "I think Manny and [trainer] Freddie [Roach] have been drinking in too much of their own publicity. If you want to see a preview of our fight just watch a replay of the first Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman fight. I can assure you I'll be playing the role of Rahman. Manny Pacquiao will pay the ultimate price for not taking me or this fight seriously."
Said Rafael Mendoza, Larios' manager, "We didn't come here to compete. We came here to win because to beat Pacquiao now is to become a star in the United States. You reach the very big fat purses and that's [what] we're looking for."
Fans willing to shell out the $39.95 for the PPV shouldn't expect much from the two-fight televised undercard: former junior bantamweight titlist Gerry Penalosa of the Philippines vs. Tomas Rojas of Mexico and Filipino bantamweight Michael Domingo vs. Mexico's Alejandro Montiel in 10-round bouts.
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| Morales |
He vowed not to after Jose Luis Castillo missed making 135 pounds, resulting in the shocking cancellation of his rubber match with Diego Corrales the day before they were supposed to meet June 3.
Former three-division champ Erik Morales (48-4, 34 KOs), Arum's biggest attraction, has been struggling to make 130 pounds in recent fights.
But Arum has taken steps to make sure that there will be no issues with Morales' weight as he heads into an HBO PPV rubber match with Pacquiao on Nov. 18, assuming Pacquiao defeats Larios on Saturday.
"I met with Erik and his wife and I told him, 'No more messing around,'" Arum said. "We brought in a nutritionist and flew everyone to Los Angeles to meet last week to go over a program that will allow Erik to make the weight safely and to make the weight so he can be strong for the fight."
After going over the program details, Arum said that Morales was "blown away."
Arum said that he was going to rent Morales a home in Los Angeles at Top Rank's expense, and that Morales would work with the conditioner and nutritionist through mid-September before going to Mexico for training camp. One of the conditioners will accompany Morales to Mexico, Arum said.
"The conditioning coach will be with Erik every step of the way," Arum said. "When he goes to Mexico, we want him under 140 pounds. When we bring him to Las Vegas for the fight, we want him right around 130 pounds so he will have no problem making weight. No more nonsense. We have a professional group around him now making sure things are right. Erik was not only receptive to this, he was ecstatic.
"Not only do we believe this program will allow him to make weight safely, but it will help in the fight. His real downfall in recent fights has been that he hasn't been able to fight at a full pace for 12 rounds. This will take care of that. Erik believes this program will extend his career at least two years."
"The weigh-in. That was always dreadful. That is always something a fighter doesn't want to experience. You have to go through hell and back. It's the first battle you go through without throwing any punches. It is difficult. Making the weight, the waiting. It is nerve-racking."
