First off this is not a bash Margo thread but rather an attempt to understand the mind of one Antonio Margarito in that fight. I re-watched this fight this weekend and couldn't help but notice the guy wasn't clearly all there. He was smiling and laughing with Mosley. He was just too friendly for one as serious as he is in the ring. He didn't have the look of an ice cold killer as he did against others. I mean even against Williams a fight in which he lost he still looked like his old self. Was he taken out of his game by what happened in the locker room or did he know all along that Shane Mosley was just a stylistic hell for him and he knew he was being led to slaughter? Or something else entirely? Your comments please.
Idk man, clearly he wasnt himself. Im sure all the handwrap **** took him off game, and I wonder if after the Cotto win he lost some of that hunger, you know? He was on top of the world after that win
Margarito and other people in the media (particularly Bernardo Osuna) claim Tony had to lose something like 50 pounds to get to welterweight, and he was drained on fight night. Also, Doug Fischer and this guy who runs another boxing site, both mentioned how terrible Margarito looked in sparring leading up to the Mosley. The one guy said Margarito was nearly knocked out in sparring a few times, and Doug Fischer mentioned seeing Margarito getting worked over by a guy he normally handled with ease. It wouldn't surprise me if any of that was actually true.
he might not have been at his best but looking at the beatdown he took its obvious that mosley would beat his ass down no matter waht.
i would venture to say it was a combination: * getting caught: if you are cheating and you know you are cheating and then you get caught and you know you are going to catch hell for doing it...that has to **** w/ your head. that isnt the be all end all for the outcome of the fight, but it had to be a major contributing factor. * the thought of mosely's last fight: im sure margo and his camp saw mosely/mayorga and thought ssm was a big name who was past it. someone who they could just impose their will on and overwhelm ala cotto. mosely didnt look very good against mayorga so i'm sure the thought was that ssm isnt as dangerous as he once was but a win over ssm looks good on paper. seeing right away that this wasnt the same ssm that fought mayorga probably accounts for a couple of those smiles. * the thought of his last fight: after what he did to cotto, i'm sure team margo started to drink the kool-aid a little bit. i'm sure they thought that no 147lber could keep margo from coming forward and ultimately taking over a fight. they also probably thought that no one could hurt margo either. seeing that they were wrong on both fronts probably accounted for a few more of those smiles. * finally what he ultimately saw out of mosely when the fight started: sort of a play off points 2 and 3. and maybe this is a product of underestimating naz as much as underestimating ssm but what naz sent out of that corner at the opening bell probably surprised the hell out of margo's corner. even if they thought that ssm was potentially as stylistic nightmare for margo, i can't imagine that they werent shocked at what they ultimately saw.
Maybe he was a little worried about not having his cement wraps, but the way Mosley fought was just the perfect plan, keeping him away with the jab,working the body early and landing those huge right hands
Here's a link where Fischer refers to the sparring. http://www.ringtv.com/blog/1367/dougies_monday_mailbag/ I would paste the quote directly, but everytime I do that...some jackass deems it necessary to ban my ass. Talking about posting copyrighted material is illegal, as if someone is gonna get sued. :roll:
Fischer wouldn't lie - he gains nothing from it since he's been a fan of Margo in the past. I still think Shane could have beaten him, but he might have made a more spirited effort and made it through the full 12. I think it was a combination of things: - complacence over facing a "worn-out" Mosley - losing a ton of weight gained from partying too hard - a longer than usual spell between fights while he found a good opponent - residual damage from the pasting Cotto gave him for six rounds, plus shots from Cintron I don't think you can eat the leather that Margo did and walk away unscathed as you're getting older. Maybe the hand-wraps were as a direct result of how bad he'd been looking in sparring. Being caught probably had him feeling he had no way out, and he knew there were going to be repercussions. Losing to Mosley would have devalued the win over Cotto, since Cotto beat Shane. Sadly he still lost to Mosley and called his career into doubt in the process.
he fought the fight of a guy who had just got caught cheating IMO....I had shane in that fight but many on here thought margo would retire shane and that shane was far past it and now PBF is ducking this same guy they claimed is far past it....margo fought a **** fight with no heart and it def made sense he had just lost his legacy in the dressing room prior:deal
he was worried about the WHOLE WORLD knowing he CHEATED not about not having plaster hands....that is a big difference....he knew that whole fight he had been caught cheating
He did act strange. Touching gloves with Mosley after the battering he recieved. After the stoppage, you can see him smiling. The way he reacted to punches has never been normal though. Maybe it's just because he has such a great chin and uses it to get a psychological edge over his opponent or maybe the reason he smiles etc., is because of what gives him a great chin? I don't want to accuse him, so take this with a pinch of salt, but Tex Cobb used to drink before fights and McCall was on drugs. I like Margarito a lot so I'm not accusing him. If you think that he did use plaster on purpose, maybe you connect the dots here aswell? I just hope he comes back strong, though.