By Steve Kim, Contrary to some internet rumors that were floating around, Antonio Margarito was not kidnapped in Tijuana by a gang of bandits holding him for ransom. Nor was he was buried underneath the Meadowlands of New Jersey next to Jimmy Hoffa. He didn’t disappear into ‘the Bermuda Triangle’ like Amelia Earhart. And you won’t see him on any milk cartons as you have your morning cereal.
He’s not missing. In fact, he’s alive and well.
“No, no, he’s not being held hostage in Mexico,” said his co-manager Sergio Diaz on Wednesday afternoon, laughing off the rumors. “Tony’s been out; he was on vacation, a two week vacation. The unfortunate thing is I left for China and wasn’t able to talk with Tony until he actually got back from vacation. When I got back from China, Tony had just left. So we could just never get together when he got back. That’s when we sat down to discuss the fight.”
Diaz and his partner, Francisco Espinoza, crossed the border on Monday and met with their fighter on Monday to discuss a possible bout with Shane Mosley.
“HBO made their offer,” said Diaz. “The offer just didn’t set well with all of us, the promoter, the fighter, the management. We still sat down, we spoke about it, and we still wanted to move forward with it. But when it came down to it, it’s just not enough. It just wasn’t enough. Yeah, it’s Shane Mosley, but he had more of a name seven years ago. So Antonio really decided that he just wanted to move forward without Mosley and look for a bigger fight.”
HBO was said to have offered a license fee of around $4 million for that matchup, which was to be split among the two sides at Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. Margarito is said to have balked at having to take a 50-50 split with Mosley.
“If that is the question, I think he does have a valid point,” conceded Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank. “He was at the Mayorga fight and I told Richard Schaefer this, he saw that the biggest applause was when he walked in the arena – and there were very few people in the arena – and he probably thinks that the value for his services are much greater than Shane Mosley’s.”
The Mosley-Mayorga fight, which was held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on September 27th, was a financial disaster for Golden Boy Promotions, while Margarito is coming off a promotion with Miguel Cotto that did around a half-million pay-per-view buys.
But on the flipside, regardless of the purse split, $2 million still represents a career-high payday for Margarito and it was he and his management that stirred things up with some verbal volleys in Mosley’s direction. Also, in this economic climate, it just doesn’t look kosher to be eschewing large paydays, especially for a fighter who appealed to ‘Jose the Plumber’ with his down-to-earth, blue-collar ethic.
Diaz admits, “Yes, we’re thinking about the backlash we might get, but Antonio has always been a blue-collar worker, he’s always been a fighter, he’s always fought to get to a point where he can make a little bit of money. We’re in a bad economy and Antonio does understand that. But he would rather wait and hope for a bigger fight.”
And that bigger fight seems to be a rematch with Cotto, who is slated to return in February against either Jesus Soto-Karass or Michael Jennings.
“I know factually that the Cotto camp wants that fight and I assume that the Margarito camp wants that fight,” said duBoef. “It was a great fight for the sport, it was a great event and I think that that fight has some very good merits of that rematch happening later on.”
The question is, will Margarito have a fight in the interim before that? As the months go by, the momentum and goodwill from July 26th continues to fade away.
“We’re hoping it doesn’t go that far,” Diaz says of his fighter’s layoff. “We are hoping that Top Rank could fight us sooner. I just spoke with Todd and he said they would get to work on finding us something. It’s going to be a lot better for the promotion if both fighters fought on different cards and met in June. It’s going to be a big fight between a Puerto Rican and Mexican. But we’re hoping we will fight before that. It’s only going to help out the event for June.”
Top Rank would like for Margarito to co-headline a show in Mexico alongside Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but if he’s not willing to face Mosley for $2 million, what are the chances that he’ll accept a tune-up for $750,000?
When it’s all said and done, if he decides to sit and wait on the return bout with Cotto, the person he’s hurting the most is himself – not only from a prizefighting standpoint, but from the viewpoint of marketing.
Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.
“As a promoter you can’t agree or disagree with what somebody wants to do. You can only give them the opportunity. And we gave him the opportunity for the fight. What his evaluation on the fight is, or what he thinks it’s worth and what his long-term agenda is in his head is not necessarily ours. So I think we explored the possible matchup and it’s just not working in the cards for him,” stated duBoef.
But the manager insists that everyone is still on the same wavelength when it comes to the career of ‘the Tijuana Tornado’.
“We’re all on the same page in regards to this Mosley fight and what we can get in the future before a Cotto rematch. Yes, we’re all on the same page.”
A NEW WORLD
There’s no doubt about it, everyone is tightening their belts – even HBO. It wasn’t that long ago that they put up around $3 million for stinkers like Winky Wright-Sam Soliman and then over $6 million just seven months ago for Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins. Then you had all the Floyd Mayweather and Roy Jones mismatches of the past that routinely fetched $3-4 million license fees.
It’s a shame that Margarito-Mosley couldn’t be consummated. This is the caliber of fight – at least on paper – that HBO once had on a regular basis during their heyday.
But it’s a brand new world out there economically. If fighters like Margarito don’t realize that, then they’ll soon find out that the business will move on without them. The days of fighters like Wright being bailed out (when he turned down a huge payday – between 4-5 million – for the rematch against Taylor because he couldn’t get a 50-50 split and was then given Ike Quartey for a couple million instead) are long gone.
With all Mosley’s respect I think Margarito can really Knock him out, so I don’t think he’s ducking him because he’s afraid of him. He’s be working hard for years and he was avoided by many boxers, now he’s getting the recognition he deserves and I understand that he wants to get the biggest fight….BUT, the sport is not doing very well, the economy is not doing very well , people are not spending Money like we were 1 year ago, next year looks really bad economically speaking.
With that said, Margarito should forget about Oscar right now..be smart, take this fight for 2 mil as a tune up (that is what it really is, Mosley is not the same, Mayorga could have won that last fight, that says a lot about Mosley’s skills) go for the rematch with Cotto and be ready for a possible De la Hoya fight late 2009, Oscar is not going to retire after Manny, so if Margarito can keep up the hype, we can have a much much bigger fight in the end of 2009 that we would have right now, that is what Oscar is all about “More Money” and sadly is what Margarito is becoming to be.
Still he is my favorite fighter at this moment and I hope he can clear his head, be smart and look ahead, I’ll smack him around if I see him eating tacos lol..
This is typical Antonio Margarito he ducks guys he has questions about. He wants to call himself the best Welterweight in the World yet he won’t fight Shane Mosley for more money than he ever made or will ever make. He ran and hid from a rematch with Paul Williams. He is content on beating up on guys who are smaller and don’t cause him much risk. Its bad because with the skills that he has if he had a bigger heart he could truly go down in history as a great fighter.
I agree TJBoxing. The sport needs Margs right now and he is perfect for it. Why not keep fighting good fights? It’s not like your going to fight anyone else of note. Clottey II? Come on. I am not a Mosley guy but the Judah cancelation last year and now this make me wonder is he more avoided than Marg?
Oh and If they think they can pull out a stunt, I think this is a different situation that Oscar vs Manny , I think Oscar wanted Manny bad, I’m not too sure Mosley wants Margarito that bad
First of all, I wanted to see the beating Margarito was gonna give to Mosley.
Second, What the hell is Margarito thinking? I understand that he wants to get more Money now that he worked so hard to get where he is at, but like James says, he is not gonna get anyone else to fight a tune up fight for more @ least 2 mill, so why not take this fight as a tuneup fight, grab the 2 mil and then fight the big one with Cotto, I really think he would have KO Mosley.
It really helps to be out there fighting and showing he is the super champ, instead he is becoming greedy, turning down fights that could eventually hurt him and the sport.
he is not going to get a fight (for example) with De la Hoya by doing things like this, he needs to go out there, beat everyone, because before no one wanted to fight him, now Money is an issue and it maybe true that he deserves, more but still 2 mill is not cup cakes, so take it for now and for sure he’ll get more later in the year..
I agree Edgar and I was waiting to see what you thought about this. I think it stinks, how can he duck someone for 2 million? That is not what he is supposed to be all about. Now who Tony? Some bum? Not good for him or the sport. I hope he reconsiders but I doubt Mosley will wait. They are already planning Mosley/Berto.
I have always been a Margarito Fan, before he demolished Cotto.
I personally think is a wrong move by Margarito, He needs a tune up fight before stepping in the ring with Cotto, why not take Mosley for 2 million. I could guaranty he will not make more than 2 million fighting a tune up fight Noting against Shane Mosley but I think Margarito could knock him out.
Or is this just another publicity stunt to make more money, hey it worked for Manny Pacquiao he got a higher percentage against the Golden Boy.
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