In the summer of 2006, Antonio Margarito confronted Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas at a press conference and asked the self-proclaimed best fighter in history about a fight together and why Floyd was ducking and dodging Bob Arum’s hefty offers to box him. Floyd, face quivering, said the fight didn’t make business sense at the time and that in the future he would fight Margarito,
“You get your shot, you get your shot,” promised Mayweather. Sitting in a chair looking up at Margarito, Floyd reached out to hold Margarito’s hand, as if the handshake on top of his word bound the promise as a deal. Mano a Mano, Floyd was promising Margarito a future fight. (See www.youtube.com “Margarito confronts Mayweather.”)
But now we know it was a lie and Floyd is a liar. HBO is said to be very interested in making Mayweather vs. Margarito for 2008 or early 2009 but a source fairly close to Mayweather has said, on the record, Floyd vs. Margarito “will never happen. Never.”
Of course, it comes as no surprise to many boxing followers who are keen on Mayweather’s perpetual ducking and dodging of tough fights despite his contradictory and misleading public statements. Case in point, see how Mayweather vilified Margarito in the media…
“I don’t know who (Margarito) is.”
“Margarito would be easy work. If Bob shows me the money, I’ll fight anybody anywhere. If it makes dollars it makes sense.”
“(Margarito is) levels below me. I’ll punish him for being on the level he is. I’ll punish him for disrespecting my team.”
“Bob Arum is the greatest promoter in history. I love Bob Arum. I love HBO.”
“My team calls all the shots out of the ring, I call them in the ring.”
“Maybe I can fight Margarito next – if I pick his name out of the hat.”
“Who has Margarito beaten to deserve a shot at me? Once he beat two or three big names then we’ll fight.”
“Me and Margarito, we’re not fighting to prove to the boxing fans who the best is.”
“I don’t duck or dodge anybody.”
“But you got to realize this: I’m an A level, I’m an A level opponent, Oscar De La Hoya’s an A level, Floyd Mayweather’s an A level, I mean Margarito is a, he got D level fighters. He had Bob Arum, he got D level fighters."
“Who is Margarito? He don’t bring shyt to the table.”
“Like I said before, I grabbed boxing fans and asked who is this guy (Margarito) and they didn’t even know who he was.”
“Like I said before I beat Margarito’s ass any day of the week. If this is the fight the fans want to see so be it. Margarito don’t dictate what I do. Don’t no one know who Margarito is.”
“Margarito – he’s an average fighter. Why would I be scared of him?”
“I want to beat the best out there and whoever is considered the top fighters of my era.”
“It’s a smart business decision to not fight you now but we will down the road.” (Floyd said this to Margarito’s face while holding his hand, after Margarito confronted him at the Mayorga-De La Hoya press conference in May.)
“They talk about Floyd Mayweather duckin’ and dodgin’ opponents. Listen. I’m trying to fight the number one guy. If the number one guy can’t fight, then I’m fightin’ the number two guy. If I can’t fight number two, I’m fighting number three.”
Leonard Ellerbe: “Margarito has four losses, why should we fight a guy with four losses?” (A few months later Mayweather signed to fight 35-year-old Carlos Baldomir, who had NINE losses.)
http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/its-now-official-floyd-is-scared-of-margarito/
