Was It A Mistake To Deprive The Margarito vs. Mosley Winner Of The Ring Belt?

Regardless of dispute, The Ring won’t recognize the Margarito-Mosley winner as its new Welterweight champion. That much is certain. On December 12, 2008, Ring’s 35-member ratings advisory panel received an e-mail from Ring editor Nigel Collins. Attached was a letter requesting input on the upcoming Welterweight showdown. The letter stated:

As you know, The Ring welterweight championship is currently vacant, and as Margarito is The Ring’s number-one contender he has to be involved in any match to fill the vacancy. Miguel Cotto is number two and Mosley is number three. While we certainly prefer a bout between number one and number two to fill a vacancy, in certain circumstances The Ring will recognize the winner of a match between number one and number three. As Margarito has already beaten Cotto, a strong argument can be made for recognizing the Margarito-Mosley fight as being for the vacant title. The fly in the ointment is the fact that Cotto beat Mosley prior to losing to Margarito, which makes it a borderline case. Therefore, I’m polling The Ring Ratings Advisory Panel to ask you all whether or not you think The Ring should recognize the winner of Margarito-Cotto as the new world champion.

The results of the panel choice were made public by Ring’s Michael Rosenthal on December 22nd. Of 25 responding panelists, “Roughly 55 percent indicated they didn’t want Margarito-Mosley to be for the world championship.” Collins was quoted, adding that a deciding factor for many “was the fact that No. 2 contender Miguel Cotto holds a decision victory over Mosley.”On December 29th, Ring’s Doug Fischer added in his bi-weekly mailbag:

I was among those on THE RING’s Ratings Panel that voted against the magazine's world 147-pound title being up for grabs Jan. 24th, and the history between Paul Williams and Margarito, was my chief reason for doing so. Here’s why: Williams didn’t leave the 147-pound division because couldn’t make the weight or because he felt he’d accomplished all he cared to in that division. Williams ventured to middleweight and junior middleweight this year because he could not secure worthy opponents at welterweight – namely Margarito, but also other top-10 contenders. Williams and his promoter, Dan Goossen, have repeatedly stated that he is willing to return to the 147-pound division for a meaningful fight, namely a rematch with Margarito, but also bouts versus the likes of Mosley, Cotto, Kermit Cintron or Andre Berto. Also, you know as well as I do that if Margarito were to beat Mosley and win the vacant RING world title, there would be a considerable backlash from fans and some media because of the Tijuana Tornado’s decision loss to Williams in 2007.

Ring’s has not been a universally hailed conclusion.

ESPN’s Dan Rafael, on January 9, 2009, posted to his blog:

For the record, I strongly disagree with Ring magazine's decision not to allow the Margarito-Mosley fight to be for its vacant welterweight championship. The magazine's championship policy states that title vacancies can be filled by the winner of a fight between a division's No. 1-ranked fighter and the No. 2 fighter, or, in certain instances, a box-off between No. 1 and No. 3. Margarito-Mosley fits the "certain instance" criteria to a tee. Margarito is ranked No. 1 by Ring (and ESPN.com) and Mosley is ranked No. 3 (also by ESPN.com). No. 2 (by both) is Cotto, whom Margarito knocked out in the 11th round in July. Although Mosley lost a tight decision to Cotto in 2007, he bounced back and knocked out Mayorga in spectacular fashion in September. Margarito also holds a victory over No. 4 Clottey. Why not allow Margarito-Mosley to be for the title when No. 2 was just knocked out? It baffles me. When Ring editorialized about why it wouldn't approve the bout for its title, there was some gibberish in the story about Paul Williams and what if he dropped back down to welterweight? I guess he would be in line for a title shot, but he's not a welterweight anymore. He can say he wants to shuttle between divisions all he wants, but facts are facts. Williams, who defeated Margarito in 2007, gave up his sanctioning organization belt and has fought his last two fights at middleweight and junior middleweight, with his next bout scheduled for middleweight. So if Williams decides to come back 147 pounds, fine. He can challenge the winner of Margarito-Mosley, which should be for the title but isn't for some bizarre reason.

 

I'd love to make an argument of it, but that's not possible. The point is too strong.

Williams literally vacated at 147. He left. Sure, "he'll take a meaningful fight" - he's not getting one at the weight. Not now. Maybe not ever. The Ring itself doesn't have Williams ranked at Welterweight.

WTF indeed.

 

:good