http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns.../150431317.php
Shocking News! Now Sharmba is Ducking Margarito!
By Scoop Malinowski
"...the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight doesn't look good, it doesn't look like it's happening."
It's beginning to look more and more preposterously ridiculous by the unfolding week. Yet another quality, respected fighter has backed down from a fistic date with the most feared man in all of boxing, Antonio Margarito.
The ruthlessly devastating WBO Welterweight champ will have to look in another direction than Sharmba Mitchell as his next potential opponent, or should we say, "victim?"
"I just spoke to Todd (DuBoef) from Top Rank, it doesn't look like Sharmba Mitchell wants to fight Tony," said Margarito's manager Sergio Diaz on Tuesday. "The fight was offered to him but he doesn't want to fight Tony.
People don't want to fight us. I understand what Sharmba Mitchell is thinking - he's at the end of his career, he thinks, I can get two or three more paydays instead of one tough fight that will end his career."
Team Margarito is still aiming to fight on August 12th in Las Vegas and now that Mitchell has joined Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas and Carlos Baldomir in the "I don't want to fight Antonio Margarito" Club, it looks like Felix Flores of Puerto Rico could be next.
"We're going down the rankings. The Europeans don't want to fight. This guy's not ready. That guy's not ready. We got down to number eight, Felix Flores says he'll take the fight."
But, there actually is a glimmer of hope that Margarito can still get his fists on Floyd later this year.
"Todd got a call from HBO, and he said HBO is asking us not to commit to anything with Antonio," revealed Diaz. "Because apparently HBO told Todd the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight doesn't look good, it doesn't look like it's happening. But we can't wait too long. Antonio needs to fight. Antonio wants to fight in August. We can't wait forever. We gotta move forward."
It's going to be very interesting to see what Floyd does if he indeed can't lure Oscar into a big money & glory fight in September. Floyd told Margarito to his face at the Boxing Writer's Dinner the night before Oscar-Mayorga that he respects Antonio and promised that he will fight him sometime in the future.
Without a lucrative date with Oscar as his escape hatch, Floyd will find himself cornered. And he will be forced to meet Margarito once and for all. If Floyd dares to make even more excuses to duck Margarito this time, we all will have learned exactly what he is.
But when you consider that Sharmba Mitchell agreed to fight Mayweather just a few months ago, and now is flat out refusing a title shot with Margarito, that may be the most revealing, most convincing, most pertinent clue of all in this fascinating Margarito-Mayweather drama.
Through all this incomprehensible ducking and dodging, Margarito's spirits remain positive. "He's actually holding up pretty good, I'm kind of surprised," said Diaz. "I expected him to be upset. He's doing okay. We were in Phoenix this past weekend. He says his fan base is growing and growing. Everyone knows what is going on, everyone goes up to him and tells him, Nobody wants to fight you. Antonio is happy that people are aware that these fighters don't want to step in the ring with him.
But I can't say how long he'll be happy with this."
All in all, Team Margarito is confident and optimistic there day is coming soon.
"Antonio knows something good is going to come out of this."
Extra, Extra: Weeks ago, when Floyd backed out down from the $8 million offer from Bob Arum, Joshua Clottey was named as a potential opponent for Margarito. When asked what happened to that prospective matchup, Diaz said, "I don't know if he's having some type of problem with his promoter Lou DiBella. I think something's going on that they're not ready to take the fight. This also happened for the last fight. We asked for Clottey and he was having some kind of problems with his promoter. I guess he wanted out of his contract with his promoter but DiBella wouldn't have any of that. When we couldn't get Clottey, we took (Manuel) Gomez."
