TUCSON — The long hair and large dark glasses were there. They identify Antonio Margarito wherever he goes these days. On Wednesday, he was in Tucson at a Casino Del Sol news conference for a March 23 ShoBox card promoted by his company, Showdown, and Top Rank.
That hair and those glasses almost have become a costume in Margarito’s role as one of boxing’s bad guys. I’m not sure it’s a part in the bloody theater that he ever wanted, or expected. But it’s there because of controversies as hard to heal as the battered skin around his right eye. He’s a target for well-aimed punches and pointed questions. Yet, he accepts it all with stubborn consistency and moves forward as he always has, in the ring and outside of it.
The bad-boy portrayal was belied for a few hours in Tucson by a patient, approachable personality who is as comfortable as ever in his own skin, despite the scars. He sat with fans, writers, security guards, waiters and anybody else seeking an autograph or an answer. The bad guy was just a regular guy, which I think has always been his real role since long-ago days when he entered the ring at an open-air mercado in Phoenix with an old-shower-curtain for a robe. He is as unassuming now as he was then. But that might not be enough in a dangerous business that often demands a star become his own boss by assuming control of what he sees and what surrounds him.
Believe what you want about the right eye damaged by Manny Pacquiao and bloodied by Miguel Cotto. Believe what you want about whether Margarito knew his gloves were loaded in the handwrap controversy that started before his loss to Shane Mosley. I’m not sure I do. The eye is hidden behind those glasses. Handwrap-gate is hidden in a cloud of allegation. But know this: Margarito has never changed his own story about any of it. Despite my skepticism, I admire him for that.
He arrived in Tucson with the same mindset he had when he left New York in November after his dramatic rematch to Cotto was stopped in the 10th by the ringside physician. Margarito continues to say that the doctor acted prematurely, because of the pre-fight controversy about whether New York would even license him. He doesn’t have any immediate plans to quit, despite mounting talk in Mexico and the U.S. that it’s time. Vision in the surgically-repaired right eye is good, he says, although weakened tissue around the eye is vulnerable to further cuts. He wants to fight fellow-Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., despite questions about whether the Mexico City-based World Boxing Council would sanction the bout. His future, he says, would be determined by the Chavez bout.
“People are opinionated and, sure, they are welcome to those opinions,’’ Margarito said in Spanish translated by Gerry Truax, Showdown’s Arizona promoter for a card featuring unbeaten super-featherweight Diego Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas in defense of his North American Boxing Federation title against Miguel Beltran Jr. (26-1, 17 KOs) of Mexico. “I still feel strong. I’d be a good fight for an up-and-coming contender such as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Chavez hasn’t fought anybody at my level. I think that’s a good fight for me.
“If he winds up beating me, then it’s time to retire.’’
No matter what the WBC decides or whether Sergio Martinez emerges as a more viable challenge for the young Chavez, Top Rank and Sergio Diaz of Showdown first want Margarito to fight a tune-up.
“Get a win,’’ Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said.
A tune-up might restore some confidence and, more important, test the problematic eye. In a post-fight examination after the junior-middleweight loss to Cotto, Diaz said physicians determined that the vision is good. But the skin around it is not. Diaz said doctors recommend that Margarito ice it down before opening bell. He also said Margarito might have to adjust his ring style. Instead of the forward-moving machine with the indestructible chin, Margarito might have to become more defensive. He has to protect the eye from punches that will cut and unleash the carnage that will force another stoppage.
But that begs a question: Can Margarito change that style? I’m not sure he can any more than he can change what he has said about all of the many controversies that, fair or not, have become part of his portrayal. He is proud of his career and how he foresees his place in history.
“I am indebted for life to my fans,’’ he said when asked how he wants to be remembered. “I’m loved wherever I go. People remind me that I’m a three-time world champion. That’s how I expect to be remembered. For that and that I always gave everything for my fans. I never left anything in doubt.’’
Questions are still there. Always will be. But about Margarito’s consistency, there’s no doubt. No doubt, either, about a regular guy’s loyalty for regular fans.
AZ NOTES
During the Tucson news conference, Magdaleno, who will fight for the only the second time outside of Nevada in 22 bouts, calls Beltran “a brawler with a raging-bull mentality’’ Magdaleno hopes for a shot at a major title some time in 2012.
Phoenix super-middleweight Jesus Gonzales heads to Montreal on Feb. 13 for a tough bout on Feb. 18 against Adonis Stevenson at the Bell Centre. In the corner opposite of Gonzales, there will be Stevenson trainer Emanuel Steward, who once called Gonzales the potential star of the 2004 Olympic team. At the time, Steward was projected to be the U.S. coach. Before the Athens Games, however, Gonzales went pro and Steward withdrew as the American coach.
