Jack Demsey’s
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Where to Watch Pacquiao vs Margarito
Look, we'll be honest. We'll go out, and we'll watch this fight -- it happens, ya know? -- and we'll enjoy it talking about it before it begins with others at the bar, "ooh"ing and "aaah"ing punch-by-punch, but, and we all know this -- this isn't the fight anyone wanted to see this November.
Manny Pacquiao, who's a member of Congress back home, the only guy to win a world title at seven different weight levels, and pretty much one of the most complete boxers on the planet (although oddly, he looks like a dude you'd see doing salsa at the club on a Saturday night), is facing Antonio Margarita. He's 27-6, and pretty good himself -- although we thought Ricky Hatton was pretty good pre-Pacquiao, and that ended fairly poorly.
Everyone wants to see Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. For the good of boxing overall, that fight pretty much has to happen -- the only other fight that could "save" boxing, insofar as it needs to be saved (we believe it does), is the Russian brothers (not going to try and spell that right now) fighting each other ... for the heart of Hayden Panetierre. That last part was a joke.
Ideally, this is what happens here: Margarito keeps it close for a few rounds, then Pacquiao, a little battered, comes out swinging and drops him, looking like a champ in the process. If HBO and Top Rank are smart, they have a live feed to wherever Mayweather is watching. We do this like a WWF angle from the mid-1990s: the next challenger looks on, breathing deeply through his nostrils, before the scene cuts to black.
Seriously, though, some boxing insiders have claimed Margarito's style could give Pacquiao trouble ... so it might not be as cut and dried as described. But most people who love going out for big fights need Manny to come through here -- and get us one step closer to the, caps lock deserved, FIGHT OF THE CENTURY.
Where We're Watching
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