Roach Foresees Knockout Punch Against Margarito

9:36 PM // 0 comments // Ian Purugganan // Category: Margarito , Pacquiao //

As in the case in the past, Freddie Roach sees Manny Pacquiao sending Antonio Margarito into dreamland once their paths cross in the ring four months from now.

“Manny will knock him out. We will knock him out," said Roach when reached for comment a day after Margarito emerged as Top Rank Promotions’ anointed one to face Pacquiao in a November 13 fight originally a showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“I have no problem with the fight. Margarito is a tough guy, but his ring generalship is poor," Roach added.

The failure of Mayweather Jr. to respond to the deadline given by Bob Arum, the big boss of Top Rank, and sign a contract to face Pacquiao in a mega-fight paved the way for the 78-year old promoter to look somewhere else. He found the right man keen enough to face the world’s pound-for-pound best fighter – Margarito.

The 32-year old warrior from Tijuana, Mexico, is a two-time world champion.

While Margarito has yet to secure a license to fight in the U.S. following the one-year suspension slapped on him by the California State Athletic Commission in the aftermath of the illegal hand-wrap controversy he got involved with, Arum believes the Mexican’s fighting style makes for an explosive title bout against a fighter as exciting as Pacquiao.

Margarito was personally handpicked by Arum over Miguel Cotto, the legendary Puerto Rican and reigning World Boxing Association(WBA) 154-pound title holder whom Pacquiao demolished in 12 rounds during their World Boxing Organzation (WBO) welterweight championship showdown last year in Las Vegas.

Roach also sees a competitive fight with Margarito, who was turned down by the 51-year old trainer two years ago as a possible Pacquiao opponent as he believes the Mexican was too big for the Filipino ring icon.

“It’s like the good guy versus the bad guy. It’s probably a marketable fight, with Manny beating up another Mexican," said Roach, obviously referring to Pacquiao’s long record of defeated Mexican fighters, from Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera to Juan Manuel Marquez.

Ironically, Margarito also fought Cotto and brutally beat him inside 11 rounds for the WBA welterweight title. The loss was the first in Cotto’s colorful career.

Unfortunately, the impressive win had been tarnished when Margarito was caught loading his knuckle pad with a hardened substance in his next fight opposite Sugar Shane Mosley.

After re-wrapping his hands, Margarito yielded his WBA title to Mosley, who administered him a 9th round technical knockout loss.

In the aftermath of the controversy, Margarito found his license revoked and was suspended from fighting for a year.

Even Roach himself is puzzled whether Margarito is loaded or not during the Cotto fight.

“Well, the issue is when he fought Cotto, was he loaded or not? We can assume that he was, but it can’t be proved.

[Boxing News Source: RCJ, GMANews.TV]