Top Rank Boxing: Antonio Margarito Returns May 8 In Mexico

ByBoxing Press

Three-time world welterweight champion Antonio Margarito will make his 2010 debut during Cinco de Mayo weekend, in a 10-round super welterweight rumble, against Texas toughman Roberto “La Amenaza” Garcia, headlining Latin Fury 14.

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions and Tecate, the four-bout Latin Fury 14 will be broadcast Live on Pay-Per-View, on Saturday, May 8, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, from Aguascalientes, Mexico, which will be celebrating the San Marcos Fair.

The pay-per-view undercard will feature WBA interim super featherweight champion Jorge Solis (38-2-2), of Guadalajara, Mexico, defending his title against top-10 contender and one-time world title challenger Mario Santiago (21-2-1, 14 KOs), of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Undefeated NABF lightweight champion and top-five contender Brandon Rios (24-0-1, 17 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., defends his title against former interim world champion and fellow top-five contender Urbano Antillion (27-1, 20 KOs), of Maywood, Calif., and the pay-per-view debut of flyweight sensation Alfonso López (3-0, 2 KOs), of Mexico City, Mexico, the son of legendary world champion and Mexican icon Ricardo López.

Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs), of Tijuana, Mexico, captured his first world title in 2002, winning the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title with a tenth-round TKO of Antonio Diaz. He reigned as WBO champion for five years, successfully defending his title seven times – five by knockout – including victories over world champions Kermit Cintron, Andrew Lewis and Joshua Clottey.

After losing the title to Paul Williams in 2007, Margarito dethroned International (IBF) welterweight champion Cintron in a rematch, knocking him out in their 2008 fight. Margarito claimed his third welterweight title when he stopped undefeated WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in the eleventh round of their July 2008 battle, arguably the fight of the year.

Garcia (28-2, 21 KOs), a native of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico who fights out of Weslaco, Texas, enters this fight riding a five-year, 14-bout unbeaten streak. Garcia possesses impressive power in both fists, where 75% of his victories have come by way of knockout and many of those stoppages produced by devastating body shots. During his impressive streak, Garcia has captured the Caribbean Boxing Federation interim welterweight title and the Texas welterweight title.