By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret "The Threat" Newton
 

 

Since defeating Miguel Cotto the new WBA Champion Antonio Margarito has been called a hypocrite, questioned for holding out for money he felt was due and accused of shutting down talks with Shane Mosley and putting that on ice. Instead of praising Margarito for his systematic destruction of Cotto these reporters (especially the morbidly obese ones) have been slinging mud "Tony's" way at a rapid clip.

 

It was even written that Margarito and Top Rank turned down a 4 million dollar from Goossen Tutor Promotions to fight their guy Paul Williams. That's hogwash and I will get to that later.

 

Yesterday it was announced that Margarito vs. Mosley is on and now its time for these hacks to start back pedaling, they were dead wrong on all accounts. Come to think of it, I've never seen a Fat Man put it in reverse, that's gotta be fun to watch.

 

"Tony" was accused of being a hypocrite because he was calling out and "belittling" Oscar De La Hoya for not fighting him. The point was made that it was hypocritical because Margarito was not facing his biggest challenge, Paul Williams. That point is ridiculous because as I recall Margarito chose not to fight the bigger money fight of Miguel Cotto back in July of 2007 because he wanted to do the right thing and face his mandatory...that was Paul Williams. I doubt he is afraid of Paul. As we know Williams defeated Margarito but "Tony" then went on to win his next 3 fights, the last victory being the Cotto dismantling. In making his point "Tubby" even praised Oscar for choosing to fight Pacquiao on December 6th. The same reporter has also ripped Oscar for fighting a guy way smaller than he is......that's what I call hypocritical. 

 

In regard to wanting a bigger piece of the pie than Mosley, from what I understand the purse offered up was 4 million dollars and Margarito said he wanted a bigger percentage cut than Mosley, quite frankly I think he deserves it. I mean Margarito is the man currently holding a belt...correct? And last I checked Margarito beat Miguel Cotto while Shane recently dropped a decision to the same Miguel. In my book Margarito deserves a bit more of that 4 million than Mosley for those reasons but apparently Golden Boy didn't and so the talks went into a stalemate. Sources have revealed that either HBO and/or Top Rank stepped up and kicked in enough cash to help Margarito change his mind. Golden Boy never budged....big surprise.

 

As far as the Goossen 4 million dollar offer, Margarito manager Sergio Diaz told Pound4Pound, "There has never been an official offer tendered to either Top Rank or myself. Goossen may be saying all over the internet that he has offered up 4 million dollars to Margarito for a fight with Williams, but we have never seen or heard that official offer....NEVER."

 

Other accusations flew out yesterday saying "Tony'" was not being realistic about the economic times and that he should wake up. Yes, we are in a financial crunch right now and fighters purses will reflect that for a long time, but whether it's 4 million or 1 million the fact is Tony feels he deserves more than Shane right now, and he is well within his right. Diaz also told us that they did discuss the economy with Margarito and although it is a bitter pill to swallow considering how he was ducked by the big money fighters and fights for his entire career that he was ready to face the lower purses that are sure to come over the next year or two. And oh by the way, this fight is on HBO World Championship boxing, not PPV. Hopefully ALL the powers that be will follow suit throughout the year and give us a break on all those "Golden" PPV's we got shoved down our throats in 2008.

 

Lastly in out chat with Diaz he explained why negotiations for the Mosley fight seemingly went on forever. "I went to China for a week," revealed Diaz, " when I got back everyone was calling me asking me where Tony was, he wasn't answering his phone. As it turned out everyone was calling Tony all the time and he had a trip to Mexico planned and he left his cell phone because he wanted to enjoy his vacation. By the time we got back in touch three weeks had passed, but I can tell you, talks with Mosley were never shut down, there was just that three week period that we were not available to talk, but the negotiations were never "off" as they say."

 

January 24th is the date, the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is the venue. It should be a fight fans battle as both men are sure to bring everything they have to the table, Mosley's speed and power vs. Margarito's iron chin and overpowering will & strength. It's guaranteed action!

 

By coincidence, the official press conference to announce the Margarito/Mosley fight will be in Las Vegas on December 6th, it will be held hours before Oscar De La Hoya takes on Manny Pacquiao. I am sure Richard Schaefer will get his share of questions at the press brunch that morning. Mine will be, "Richard, if Margarito wins and puts on another great performance will he then deserve an Oscar?"

 

My other highlight will be to see if Chubby and Tubby(aka Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dumber) will apologize to Margarito for all the undue venom they spewed in his general direction.

 

Questions Or Comments? Email William Trillo