Flashback: How Floyd Ducked Margarito & Cotto

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To celebrate the

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– who is rumored to be in the process of ducking Shane Mosley – we will take a look back at two articles which illustrate how Floyd Mayweather ducked Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto. Note the common tactic of lying by Floyd/Ellerbe to at first pretend to be interested in the fight, before pulling off the duck…
Mayweather Malfunctions When Posed With Margarito Questions
By Scoop Malinowski:
(This article was originally posted in October of 2006.)
For those boxing fans who refused to believe that Floyd Mayweather could possibly be afraid of Antonio Margarito, I offer you this exchange during the recent Floyd Mayweather conference call:

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(USA Today): What do you think about Bob Arum calling you, to keep continuously saying that you’re ducking Antonio Margarito
?

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I mean, Bob Arum is the type of guy, you know, I mean he’s grumpy. He’s an old lady’s grumpy, you know. But, I mean I’m just going to tell Bob, you know, thanks for every, you know thanks for our relationship. I mean in the past thanks for everything you done for me, you know, I appreciate you.
I won’t have nothing bad to say about you; I wish you nothing but the best of luck in the future and I wish Todd DuBoef and all of DuBoefs and the whole Arum family good luck but as, I’m with Goossen Tutor and me and Dan’s going to take it to the next level. I mean he’s, I mean, man, that’s the real promoter.
When I was with Dan and I went back and done another fight with Bob, you didn’t see Dan bad-talk me or trash talk me. I mean Bob Arum has made a lot of money off me; I made a lot of money over there. I mean why would you, I mean a deal, some day you talk about us, it’s about being positive but then, you never see me talk about negative things and then once I started my training camp for this fight he told me I can use the Top Rank boxing gym and then in between, and if you don’t (inaudible), he told me that he’d kick me out of his boxing gym so you want me to fight your fighter but you don’t want me to work in your boxing gym. So, it’s obvious that you don’t want the fight.

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So you’re no longer working at Top Rank Gym? Hello?
DAN GOOSSEN: No, he’s not, Chuck.

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Wait, Bob Arum would have, Dan can make Bob Arum an offer. Bob Arum can never make me an offer but Dan can make him an offer.

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All right. All right.

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But you got to realize this. I’m an A level; I’m an A level opponent, OK? Oscar de la Hoya’s an A level; Floyd Mayweather’s an A level. I mean Margarito is a, he got, he got D level fighters. He had, so Bob Arum, he got D level fighters. You know without, you know without, be honest without Floyd Mayweather or Oscar de la Hoya, I mean what is Top Rank, honestly?

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All right. So Margarito is not on your radar at all?

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I’m not; you know I’m looking for a household name. I mean he’s a household; we need two household names.

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OK. All right, Floyd. Appreciate it, man.

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No, come on. We got to realize this. 25,000 homes? If that. And then that’s, and that’s given them the benefit of the doubt. And I mean he’s supposed to be a Hispanic fighter with Hispanic fans. So, I mean, come on, man.
Ahem. Now consider what Floyd Mayweather said just a few moments earlier, when he was defending his choice of handpicking the unheralded Henry Bruseles as an opponent… “I mean, the fight with Henry Bruseles – somebody had to give him a chance. You know, everybody gives – I mean, how will we ever know how good a person is till you give them a chance? Somebody had to give him that chance, so I gave him that chance.”
Which begs the question: Why won’t generous Floyd give or even verbally commit or promise to give Antonio Margarito any chances to show the world how good he is???

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After witnessing all the double talk of the last 8 months, the $8 million offer three itmes, this exchange and all those You Tube videos of Floyd stuttering almost incoherently when forced to talk about Margarito, I believe this is undeniable proof that Floyd is actually afraid of Margarito, he is actually struck by fear. Only rarely have you seen such blaringly obvious clues of fear seep out of the facade of bravado of a top pro fighter (Floyd Patterson vs. Sonny Liston, Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson, Morrade Hakkar vs. Bernard Hopkins, Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell, Joe Gatti vs. Terry Norris, Michael Spinks vs. Mike Tyson, etc.). There is no doubt now, Margarito is indeed Floyd’s BOGEYMAN.
The mere thought of Margarito alters Floyd’s thought and speech patterns. He makes little sense whenever he opens his mouth about Margarito. I completely believe the fight has already been determined. Floyd has been conquered by the Margarito mystique, the Margarito smile of 100% (GENUINE not MANUFACTURED) confidence, the Margarito arsenal of non-stop pressure and relentless savagry. The supposedly great Floyd Mayweather is incapable of how to effectively deal with issue of Margarito out of the ring and so it will transfer to confusion and indecision inside the ring, as it always does. IT ALWAYS DOES. It appears that Floyd’s mind does not function properly when it has to deal with the ghost of Margarito. Just wait and see what happens when the real beast is attacking him.
Boxing will have a new superstar from Mexico.
That is, if Floyd and the boxing powers-that-be ever give Margarito the chance to prove himself in a major marquee fight.