'Margarito looking better than ever'...........

When it was revealed in early 2009 that Antonio Margarito was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for a year after having elements of plaster of paris in his hand wraps prior to his fight with Shane Mosley, the news was devastating to the ‘Tijuana Tornado’. His credibility was instantly shot and he suffered a wave of criticism from the often unforgiving boxing world.
Fast forward over a year and a half later and Margarito has been slowly trying to rebuild his image as well as his self confidence. The 32-year old is heading into one of the biggest fights of his life, a November 13th clash with Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and a key figure to his apparent rejuvenation is his new trainer Robert Garcia. A former champion in his own right, Garcia’s knowledge and low key demeanor seems to be the perfect fit for Margarito as the tandem will be looking to upset the best fighter in the world.
Garcia has refrained from any trash talk heading into the fight but you can sense a definite sense of confidence in his voice that goes well beyond the standard talk that comes before a prize fight. I recently caught up with Garcia and got some updates on Margarito’s progression in camp, his thoughts on how to defeat Pacquiao, having lightweight contender Brandon Rios in camp and much more.
Continue reading below for Garcia’s thoughts…

My decision…
“When I retired from fighting, when I decided that would be my last fight ten years ago, that was my decision. I never wanted to come back or never had the urge o want to do it again. Now that I am doing it again as a trainer and I’m in these type of fights with Margarito, I just doing my best to get him ready and get a good plan for the fight. Not like if it was me though, none of that.”
Monitoring camp…
“You always have to take care our your fighters, especially during a big fight. You have to make sure that they are eating right; their weight is coming down the way it is supposed to be. Get them away from any distractions. That can come with fighters like Margarito who are used to living in his hometown. When he comes to Oxnard, a place where he has no friends or relatives, he is focused. Everybody loves that he is here but we like to keep him shy most of the time. If he needs something to eat we will go get it for him and if he wants to go grocery shopping we will do that for him. We just don’t want too many people around him because there are always people who could be negative. When he comes to the gym we try to do it the same way.”

Better than ever…
“I think the way my camps are always done, it brings happiness and confidence to all of my fighters. We have good people around him. He’s said it a few times, he’s said it personally, that he feels better than ever. He feels better than when he beat Cotto. He feels so confident of getting good results and he says training with me is the best thing he has ever done. That’s good to hear, just knowing that his mind is ready to go in there and pull out an upset. It’s great not only for me but for him. He’s the one fighting and I’m the one behind him, giving him a good strategy and telling him what to do.”

The element of sparring…
“We have four sparring partners. They have all been helping him out. We starting off doing eight rounds and on Wednesday and Friday, our last two days of sparring, we were scheduled to do eight but we did eight. I’m going to try to get him up to ten rounds and see how he is looking. It’s just hard work. My plan was to do six weeks of sparring; we’ve worked out two and we have four more weeks of sparring. This coming week we will move up and we will be doing twelve rounds by the fight and will be tapering off after that.”

Word from Camp Pacquiao…
“I don’t pay attention to that. I’m studying his fights every day. That’s what I am looking at. I am looking at the best Manny Pacquiao out there. However his training camp is going, I really don’t look into that. I don’t go around looking at any stories or anything. People have called me and told ‘Have you heard that or have you heard this?’ but I don’t pay attention to that. I’m not concerned how they are training. I know they have a good trainer behind him and they are coming with a great game plan. I have a great fighter too and he’s been doing great work in the gym too.”

Respecting your foe…
“I can’t take nothing away from him. To me he’s the best fighter in the world. He’s proven that he is the best by winning seven titles in seven weight divisions. That in itself says something that nobody has ever done. Pacquiao has beat the best. He beat De La Hoya, he beat Cotto and what he has been doing is unbelievable. I know that he is a great fighter; very fast and very powerful. That’s my job to try and get my fighter ready to try and pull it out.”

Having Brandon Rios around…
“Brandon Rios is a person that comes to the gym and gets everybody motivated. He gets everybody excited. He gets along with everybody but he also motivates everybody. From my amateurs to my world champions to whoever is in the gym, whenever Brandon Rios is around everybody is motivated and everybody works harder. He’s that type of person who pushes people harder but does it in a fun way. He makes it fun. We love having him around because he’s just that type of person. We’re getting ready for his next fight. He will be training for his December 4th fight. We hope everything goes well so the next fight is for the world title.”

 

:good

 

dont be daft, ur be watching:hey.