Margarito: I'm the best at 147!

November 22, 2006

By Karl Freitag

Photo: Bryan Crowe

Although Floyd Mayweather has received the lion's share of the media attention since he invaded the 147lb ranks twelve months ago, WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (33-4, 24 KOs) says Floyd has to get by him before he can claim supremacy in the division.

"I've been fighting at welterweight a long time," said Margarito today. "I've fought some of the best fighters out there at welterweight that want to fight me. It's not a question of me of not wanting to fight him, it's him not wanting to fight me. I've proven myself how good I am at 147. I am the best at 147."

Promoter Bob Arum added, "Let's put all the baloney aside. Mayweather was offered $8 million to fight Antonio. He turned it down. When he fought Baldomir he didn't make anything like $8 million. I don't care what they say, there was nobody guaranteeing anything. He didn't make $8 million. Mayweather chose not to fight Margarito because he was looking down the line to fight De La Hoya and Margarito was too dangerous. That's the point. Nobody is saying that Mayweather is principally afraid of any fighter or anything like that but he didn't want to fight Margarito because Margarito was too risky a fight. Period. Don't insult anybody's intelligence by trying to hypothesize anything else. Mayweather wouldn't fight Margarito because he felt Margarito was too much of a risk to fight. Period!"

Regarding the Mayweather-Baldomir fight, Margarito stated, "I think that it showed the Floyd is very smart by fighting a guy that's too old, a guy that's passed his prime, a guy that wasn't going to do anything to him. Floyd knew he wasn't going to fight anyway so he just walks around him and Baldomir didn't have the tools to chase him and bring him down. I think that it was a smart move for him if he didn't want to lose a fight. I think that he was smart to fight Baldomir because he wanted to fight De La Hoya and he's got the fight now."

As for the May 5 showdown between Mayweather and De La Hoya, Margarito stated, "I really don't have anything to say about the fight between Floyd and Oscar.....he's going to make a lot of money and that is all what he was asking for. As far as the fight goes, I think he's a small guy coming up in weight and Oscar, he's passed his prime, so I don't really know what to expect from that fight.

"Arum has done everything to get Floyd into the ring with me. He didn't want to and Oscar's not even answering the phone, so there's nothing we can do about it. I would have loved to fight either of those two guys but if they both retire, good luck to them."

Margarito, the 'Tijuana Tornado,' has held the WBO welterweight title for three years. He has a tough challenger on December 2 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in Joshua Clottey (30-1, 20 KOs), who is unbeaten in his last ten bouts since November 1999 when he was DQ'd against Baldomir. In the co-feature, Miguel Cotto (27-0, 22 KOs) faces Carlos Quintana (23-0, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBA welterweight championship. Both bouts can be seen on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

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