Only last week, the biggest story in boxing was the fact that Antonio Margarito had been approved to fight pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao in November.
There was controversy over the fact that he was approved for a license by the Texas athletic commission after two others turned him down. Questions asked about whether he and Pacquiao should be fighting for a vacant junior middleweight belt when neither have much of a recent resume at the weight, and the can of worms over his suspension was reopened and examined.
Just as it began to look like the public were really turning against the idea of the fight though, along came Pacquiao rival Floyd Mayweather and his now infamous Ustream video, in which he spewed forth a torrent of offensive, derogatory and racist remarks. After which the questions surrounding Margarito seem to have dissipated.
If it was Mayweather's intention to steal some of the limelight from Pacquiao and Margarito during their press tour by saying something controversial, unquestionably he managed it. With the bad press that the fight was already getting though, if anything Mayweather probably did them both a favor in terms of promoting their Dallas clash.
As offensive as the speech was, Manny Pacquiao isn't going to be losing any sleep over it. The more fans Mayweather ships through his juvenile conduct, the more the fighting politician gains, and equally the worse Mayweather makes himself look, the better Pacquiao automatically looks by comparison. Also although it hasn't happened on a wide scale as yet, sponsors that before would have looked to Mayweather as the face of the sport might instead find themselves drawn to the more tactful and balanced Filipino instead in the future.
Pacquiao isn't the only one who potentially benefits though.
The uproar created by Floyd's rant and subsequent apology has if anything also made the public suddenly warm to the idea of Antonio Margarito getting to take a high profile fight after serving a years suspension for being found with loaded hand wraps. Even repeated statements from Oscar De La Hoya declaring that Margarito should have been banned for life have had little negative effect, and since Floyd's online appearance his promotional partners in Golden Boy now appear to have gone into duck and cover mode to avoid any difficult questions.
Margarito's slowly improving public image is also probably thanks in large part to the fact that all speculation as to why the fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather was never made has now been removed. As he stated in both videos, Mayweather is not ready to fight at this time for some reason. Whether that's primarily down to his uncle's legal troubles, tax concerns or just a lack of motivation isn't clear and likely won't ever be fully revealed.
Given then that there is clearly not going to be any alternative in terms of big fights for the remainder of the year, the public now seem much more eager to see Pacquiao and Margarito square off. Perhaps before there was a feeling that both sides were at fault somehow in the second failed set of negotiations between Top Rank and team Mayweather. The blame now though has shifted firmly towards Mayweather, giving whatever alternative fight Pacquiao could have made much easier acceptance.
Norm Andrews, Pittsburgh: "Margo does look a lot better somehow after that nonsense from Money May. Then again that might have started after everyone saw how much bigger he is than Pacquiao on the press tour"
Julius Brown, Philly: "If he came out and just said why he won't fight people would go easier on him, it's because he always says he's taking time off after one easy fight that people aren't happy with him"
Source: http://www.examiner.com
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