Margarito-Mayweather: This era's Hagler-Leonard?

Mark Ortega

When Antonio Margarito defeated Miguel Cotto in late July, it opened up a small possibility for a 147-pound mega-fight down the line between Margarito and the undefeated, and now retired, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Although many find it unlikely that Floyd would fight Margarito if he returned, there are many factors that lead me to believe that there is some potential for this fight happening sometime in the future.

When Sugar Ray Leonard initially retired in 1982, it all but killed any possibility of a fight with middleweight king Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Leonard had even invited Hagler to a ceremony in which everyone figured was Leonard’s way of challenging the 160-pound champion to a big money showdown between the two. Instead, Leonard said that although a fight between the two could be one of the greatest ever, it would never happen, thus announcing his retirement. Hagler went on to dominate the middleweight division for half a decade longer before finally luring Leonard out of retirement to fight him, and the fight only happened on Leonard’s terms. Although they competed in two separate weight classes, there are many similarities between the two sets of fighters. Margarito, like Hagler, was underappreciated for most of his career. His six-year reign as WBO Welterweight Champion went largely unnoticed by mainstream coverage, as Margarito was constantly being overshadowed by other names in the division including Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, Ricardo Mayorga, Vernon Forrest, and Mayweather, Jr.

It wasn’t until Margarito completely took apart Cotto in their July showdown that he began to be mentioned as an elite fighter. Much was the same for Hagler, who until his three-round destruction of Thomas Hearns, was very much ignored in talks of who the top fighters in the sport were. The way that Margarito is built is a lot like Hagler. Margarito is undoubtedly the best chin in the sport, as well as one of the best conditioned fighters. He cannot be hurt and he never slows down. Hagler only was briefly wobbled in his fight against Hearns, who was the biggest puncher pound-for-pound in the sport at the time. Hagler also never slowed down and usually got better as the fight went on, which is something Margarito is known for. Those attributes were key to Margarito knocking out Cotto in July. With Mayweather now out of the sport and Cotto’s aura of invincibility dented, Margarito has taken center stage in the welterweight division and has a few potentially big fights on the horizon. If Margarito can run through the ranks at 147, there is a chance he could lure Mayweather out of retirement for a super-fight.

Much like Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was destined to be a world champion and a pound-for-pound great. His early bouts were televised, he made very good fighters look ordinary, and he didn’t lose. It was never a matter of if Mayweather would be a world champion, but a matter of when. He won his first world title in 1998 when he beat Genaro Hernandez, a good fighter, to win the WBC version of the 130-pound title. In 2001 he utterly destroyed an undefeated Diego Corrales, knocking him down five times during the bout before it was stopped in the tenth. He also scored two close, disputed wins over Jose Luis Castillo in his first bouts as a lightweight. For the first part of his career, he fought the best competition that was available, much like Sugar Ray Leonard..

Leonard won his first world title in 1979 when he scored a victory over Wilfred Benitez, who at the time had never lost a fight. Two fights later, he fought and lost to Roberto Duran by decision, but five months later made Duran quit to regain his belt. Less than a year later, he knocked out the undefeated Thomas Hearns in a welterweight unification bout. On top of his stellar career, Leonard was also by far the most famous boxer in the United States , maybe even the world. Leonard used that fame to then fight less than stellar competition when there were more important bouts out there. Leonard fought against guys like Larry Bonds and Bruce Finch when there was potential to fight a rematch with Benitez, or a rubber match with Duran instead of making him wait nine years like he did with Thomas Hearns, another fighter he could have fought at the time. This compares very well to Mayweather, who as the recognized welterweight champion of the world fought Oscar De la Hoya, who fights at junior middleweight, and Ricky Hatton, who fights as a junior welterweight. Mayweather could have attempted to fight the more important fights in terms of clearing up his own division by fighting guys like Cotto, Margarito, or Paul Williams. Instead he opted for the big paydays that came in less risky bouts.

About half a year following his win over Ricky Hatton, Mayweather retired. Why would anyone think there is chance of a Mayweather comeback? The same reasons that Leonard ended up fighting a second and third stint. It is plausible that Mayweather would miss the limelight enough to return for a mega-fight that guarantees him to be the talk of the sporting world again.

There are only two real chances this fight has of happening. One, Margarito could dominate welterweight for a few years in the way that Hagler took apart the middleweight division in Leonard’s absence from the sport. If Margarito could put together an impressive run over the next few years, he could make his case. A perfect world would see Margarito fighting a rematch with Clottey in November, then following that up with a title defense against Shane Mosley in early to mid-2009, and then closing the year with a welterweight unification rematch with Paul Williams to determine who is the world’s best welterweight. If Margarito could pull that off, it would be hard for Floyd to come back and not fight Margarito.

The other possibility is that Margarito somehow finds himself lucky enough to win the Oscar De la Hoya sweepstakes and take the Golden Boy out in a more emphatic fashion than Floyd was able to. If Margarito were to fight Oscar, he would likely knock him out in the middle rounds rather than edge a split decision like Floyd. Unfortunately, Oscar has come up with every possible excuse to avoid fighting Margarito, and with Oscar signed to fight Manny Pacquiao at the end of the year, a Margarito-De la Hoya fight is dead.

The first scenario is the much more likely of the two, and even that seems farfetched.. Hopefully, for our fans’ sake, Margarito becomes Marvelous over the next few years and lures Mayweather out of retirement for the most important fight of the decade.

Read more!