Antonio Margarito, who was last seen in the boxing ring in December of 2011 in his rematch against Miguel Cotto at the Madison Square Garden in New York, recently stated his intentions to making a comeback.
He started working again in the gym with trainer Robert Garcia and his co-manager, Sergio Diaz, reached out to Top Rank, which promoted 'the Tijuana Tornado' for much of his career.
"Top Rank is on board," said Diaz, who recently met with the company to discuss their plans.
"They're on board with Antonio coming back but they need to be assured that Antonio's 100-percent with his (right) eye. They wont allow him to fight - at least for Top Rank - if his eye is not 100-percent. So we're going up to Utah to visit Dr. (Alan) Crandall, who's one of the best in opthomology and Top Rank wants a full check-up on that eye.
"If anything comes back where anything can happen, Top Rank will not move forward with it. They don't want to do that. They say it's not about getting Antonio in the ring and making money, it's about being sure that he is healthy. That's what they're worried about."
During his 2010 match-up versus Manny Pacquiao in Arlington, Texas - Margarito suffered a badly damaged right eye - in addition to a broken orbital bone - that needed to be surgically repaired.
Prior to his second bout against Cotto, the New York State Athletic Commission nearly nixed this fight as they threatened to not license him over the condition of his eye. Margarito was made to go through extra examinations and a special hearing in the lead-up to that fight, which was eventually halted after the tenth round because of damage to that eye suffered that night.
In June of 2012, Margarito announced his retirement from boxing with a record of 38-8(27 KO's).
But now at age 37, he wants to make a comeback, which admittedly surprised the chairman of Top Rank, Bob Arum - "Yeah, but he looked in great shape so we'll see."
The veteran promoter said that the pow-wow with Margarito's representatives was ''excellent."
But Arum reiterated - (Margarito's) got to be cleared by the eye specialist before we can get involved and that's what he's going to do this week and the guy will give us a full report."
