Antonio Margarito: His Time May Finally be Here!

Translated from Spanish to English by Sergio Martinez.

“I hope that he is true to his word and stands in front of me and trades punches so that we can give the fans what they deserve, which is a great fight. I know that I will win this fight and hope that people watch it so that they can see a true champion at work.”-Antonio Margarito on his upcoming fight with Kermit Cintron.

“No es lo mismo invocar al Diablo que verlo venire,” (Spanish saying with an English meaning of: “talking about the devil is very different to being before him,”) said Margarito from his training camp in southern California, responding to a quote Kermit “The Killer” Cintron told this

writer during last week’s conference call for their fight, which is the main event scheduled to air on April 23, 2005, as part of a block buster pay-per-view card hosted by ESPN and promoted by Main Events. “Cintron has been doing a lot of talking on how if I stand in front of him and trade punches, I’m going to end up damaged. Well, we will see if he’s all talk. I hope not because I want to exchange punches with him to prove to the world that I’m the stronger fighter with more experience that has fought the much better opposition. I think his punching power is overrated. Who has he fought? Teddy Reid? No disrespect to Reid, but he is a 140-pound fighter and, in his fight with Cintron, he was only strong the first three rounds. In my opinion, he (Reid) was not in good condition.”

Read on for the rest of this unmissable interview with Antonio Margarito, exclusively from SaddoBoxing.com

Conditioning has never been a factor for Margarito as he is prepared to go twelve pressure packed, hard rounds with “The Killer.” “See the thing with punchers is that they tend to rely on their punch so much that when they have an opponent in front of them, putting constant pressure and taking the punches they throw, they tend to crumble. He has never faced a fighter of my caliber and I have been in there with guys that are of a much higher caliber than him. I know that I’m the strong puncher and know that I have nothing to worry about. I know that I can take his punch. I’m not concerned at all with his supposed power.”

It is the kind of bravado that is rarely heard from Antonio, but he maintains that this has been his best training camp ever, and he is one-hundred percent ready for this fight. “All of the hard work has been put in and we are done with that portion of the training. Now, it is time to work on speed drills and make sure that I peak come fight night. I’ve put in extra roadwork for this fight and have had some tough sparring with naturally bigger men than me. I have had a very smooth camp and have not had any injuries or illnesses. We are about two weeks away from the fight, and I’m only about four to five pounds over the weight limit. I feel ready and am going to win this fight.”

And win he must as this is quite possibly Margarito’s last chance at the stardom that he seemed destined for when he busted on to the scene in 2002 with a tenth round demolition of the highly regarded Antonio Diaz to win the vacant W.B.O. welterweight title. At that time, Antonio was seen as the next great Mexican champion but has not yet achieved that status. “This fight is a must win for me because I’ve been told by my management that a victory will lead to bigger purses, bigger fights, and financial security. I’ve labored in this sport for years and I think my time is finally here. Believe me when I say that I’m hungry and I’m glad that this fight was made because Cintron is an undefeated fighter who is very respected by the public and it will give me achance to show everyone what a great fighter I am and what I’m made of. I think that I have lacked a lot of publicity and I’m the only real top Mexican welterweight out there right now and hope that the people watch this fight and get behind me. I have been married for five years now and my wife and I are waiting to have kids until we have secured our financial future, and there is no way that he (Cintron) is going to get in the way of my family’s future.” One cannot secure a future if no one is willing to fight you. “The top fighters never want to fight me because they know that I’m a hard fighter that leaves it all in the ring. I can punch and I can box. People see me as too much of a risk and just avoid me. I’ve been doing this for a long time and just want my career to get to the next level.”

And that journey to the “next level” began at the young age of eight-years-old when Margarito first walked into a boxing gym. “My father was a boxing fanatic and used to take me to the local boxing shows in Tijuana. I would love to watch those guys just leave their hearts in the ring. Then, I saw Jorge “El Maromero” Paez and Julio Cesar Chavez, and I knew that I wanted to be like them.” Another thing that Antonio strived for was for him and his older brother Manuel Margarito, who was also a professional welterweight, to be top fighters together, but that dream would come to an end a little over five years ago when his brother Manuel was shot and killed during a burglary attempt of his parent’s home. “My brother and I would help each other out in the gym. He had seven professional fights with a record of four wins, two draws, and one loss.”

To Cintron and boxing fans, Margarito had this to say: “I hope that he is true to his word and stands in front of me and trades punches so that we can give the fans what they deserve, which is a great fight. I know that I will win this fight and hope that people watch it so that they can see a true champion at work. The Mexican, Puerto Rican rivalry is big, and I hope to continue the tradition of great fights when we meet.”

And as Michael Buffer so eloquently says, “Let’s Get Ready To RUMMMMMBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Sergio Martinez can be reached at srg_mrtnz@yahoo.com