Pac vs Marg is a disgrace.

I wrote this for the main page and submitted it but they didn't post it, I guess i'll spill it here.


Pacquiao vs Margarito is a disgrace!

The highly publicized and controversial match-up between the Philippine’s Manny Pacquiao and the “Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito is disgraceful, deceitful and deceptive. Every aspect of this fight is marred by controversy, politics and racial exploitation. Bob Arum concocted this fight in lieu of a Mayweather vs Pacquiao showdown when he falsely hyped a cut off press conference for the fight everyone actually wants to see. The anticipation and hype for the Mayweather/Pacquiao showdown provided Bob Arum with the media attention and the platform to hype the potential Pacquiao vs Cotto II/Margarito showdowns, which of course were the 2 leading contenders from his own organization, Top Rank Promotions.

The deceitful bait-and-switch tactics of Bob Arum are one of the many things in boxing today that cause the sport a great deal of criticism. Not only is Bob Arum ignoring the will of the common fan, he is exploiting another racially driven fight in a state with a very high Hispanic population. Nowhere in Bob Arum’s head is the excitement of the fight, the compelling story, the necessity of the clash. For him it is clearly a financial decision to exploit Margarito’s race and Pacquiao’s ever impressive rise through the weight classes. Arum’s compulsion to market fights based on demographics in the face of competitiveness and morality is what makes him a successful promoter but also puts him in the category of the pimp-like Don Kings that take hold of the youthful talent in the sport and turn them into number running business-like fighters.

Antonio Margarito, disgraced and dismantled, has no place in a ring with the pound for pound king of boxing. After being utterly destroyed by a 37 year old Shane Mosley in January of 09, his name is but a whimper on the global boxing scene. His legacy is built on the presumption that Floyd Mayweather Jr, in addition to some other top welterweights a few years ago, were scared to death to even enter the ring with the non-stop whirlwind of arm punching known as “the Tijuana tornado”. The only claim to fame that can be accepted in the debate is Margarito’s stoppage of former Welterweight king Miguel Cotto. Even this fight now comes under scrutiny given Antonio Margarito’s recent fraudulent activities. No fighter deserves the pay day of fighting Manny Pacquiao less than Antonio Margarito. His sense of pious innocence is insulting to a great many number of fans who actually have respect for this sport and the men who make it so exciting within the governed rules.

Manny Pacquiao, by agreeing to fight Antonio Margarito, has spoken volumes about his seriousness about this sport and it’s health. Pacquiao is too fast and too good for this plodding slow arm punching would be Mexican warrior. It’s disgraceful to even accredit Margarito as a true Mexican champion with such fresh memories of Morales, Barrera and Marquez. Pacquiao is the draw for this fight and the eighth weightclass title win is the carrot. That carrot has been shined and cut for him in the form of an in house catchweight title fight against a perceived threat that most people don’t even credit with making it to the final bell. Manny Pacquiao should, based on morals alone, reject even the notion of this fight.

Giving an exposed criminal his record payday against the pound-for-pound king of the sport is disgraceful. It does nothing for the sport and only enhances the legacy, on paper, of 1 individual. That individual is Manny Pacquiao. While this fight may sell well and garner some attention for it’s controversy, it propels boxing into the realm of junk television where something like the amazing accomplishment of a world title at a historic eighth weightclass eclipses the necessity for quality fighters, from every walk of life, getting their chance to shine and make a name for themselves. Every party involved in this fight is just selling boxing down the river towards a world of ‘fights we give you’ vs ‘fights you want’.


LukeO

 

Of who?

 

That a comment on arum... the same thread I made immediately following the arum media conference where he talked about not actually having talked to mayweather and only talking to greenburg.

He didn't even mention that once before the debacle.

 

And I actually like Pacquiao too, but not more than I like the sport and it's perception in the sports world.

 

Oh god, get lost dork.

"unobjective fanboy drivel" that "i didn't read past the first paragraph"

Go cry to another apologist.