Will Top Rank be Margarito's Big Fight?

After several years of futile efforts, Top Rank would put out a press release last Monday night announcing that at long last, their WBO welterweight champion, Antonio Margarito, had landed his big fight, stating that 'the Tijuana Tornado' had agreed to face Puerto Rican star, Miguel Cotto on June 9th at Madison Square Garden in New York, eschewing his mandatory defense against some guy named Paul Williams.

A week later, Margarito has signed, instead, to face Williams, in a bout that was won on a purse bid offering of around $1.5 million by Goossen-Tutor, the company which promotes this Williams fellow.

Now, Top Rank is threatening litigation if this bout takes place. So it seems that Margarito's first truly big fight could be taking place against his own promoter.

Cue Alanis Morissette, because that is ironic.

“We have an exclusive contract with Margarito and he can't sign a contract with any other promoter and we were not party to the purse bid at their request," said Bob Arum, Mr. Top Rank, on Tuesday afternoon. "We didn't participate because of the hand injury. They told us not to participate. If they go ahead fighting Williams or anybody else for any other promoter, we're going to hold everybody accountable."

But Dan Goossen believes otherwise of those claims. To him, a fight that goes up to purse bid is fair game.

"It's completely false," he says."We showed up in Puerto Rico, placed our bid, there was another one with De La Hoya. Whether or not Arum participated, that was his right. We won the purse bid and we're moving forward full steam ahead with a great fight between Margarito and Williams based on the purse bid victory."

A purse bid is conducted when a champion and a mandatory challenger can not come to a financial agreement on a fight. Any promoter with a license (who is willing to pay a fee) is allowed to place a bid on the fight. Usually there is a 75-25 split that goes to the reigning titlist. And winning a purse bid gives that promoter the right to promote the upcoming contest as a 'one-off' with no promises of future commitments.

"That's correct," stated Goossen. "Unfortunately, in our business, people like to put different spins on it and twist it and slice it and all that. Plain and simple, we won a purse bid. He's going to defend his world title against his mandatory challenger, a challenge that was due last year with the request to fight Joshua Clottey, the winner agreed to fight
Williams next. I must tip my cap to Margarito for being one of these Mexican warriors that believes that defending that title is well worth every cent of his pride."

As for reports that Goossen's company had signed Margarito to a long-term deal, he would unequivocally state, "Absolutely not."

It's been a long, drawn out process of finding an opponent for Margarito, who struggled to a decision victory over Clottey in December. Since that point there had been various stories of Margarito fighting on Cotto's March 3rd undercard in a non-title fight, to getting another extension from the WBO to hold off Williams, to sitting out to rest his ailing right hand, to vacating the belt, and the inking of a deal with Cotto, to this point.

The Cotto fight was to have paid Margarito around $1.8 million with pay-per-view upside. But according to his manager, Sergio Diaz, the caveat was that they had to sign a promotional extension with Top Rank with just months left on their existing deal.

"That was the main reason," Diaz would say Tuesday afternoon, of their reluctance. "Antonio has been with Top Rank for eight years now. Antonio felt that it was time that he be given an opportunity to take a breath. To breathe a little, it didn't mean whatsoever that we're going to use this to leave Top Rank. Not at all. This is something we've always told them. We brought up the possibility of a 'first and last' which was also turned down. But in no way was this a way to get out of us working with Top Rank.

"I have another fighter with Top Rank, a fighter that they are actually moving very well, Jesus Soto, we're very happy, he's very happy. Antonio has told me numerous times that he doesn't want to sign an extension. Not meaning that he doesn't ever want to sign with Top Rank again. But he just wants to be given this opportunity to breathe and just sit down with Top Rank, say, 'OK, y'know what? Our contract is over, let's work out a brand new deal without having the pressures of a fight, training for a fight or not having to take a fight because of an extension."

Back in 2004, when they rematched Daniel Santos, faced with a similar set of circumstances, they would agree to a contract extension.

"We went through this, we sat down as a team and we decided the best thing to do was to sign an extension because it was great, the extension that was agreed upon was on good terms and we felt that Tony's career was going to be moved the way we wanted it to," said Diaz.

But in recent years, with the inability to get land marquee fights and stay active (averaging just two outings per year since 2001) Margarito had grown a bit antsy and impatient with Top Rank.

When asked about the extension, Arum would say, "We were ready to give that up. That was part of negotiations."

You just wonder if putting out that press release announcing the Cotto bout was an error in judgment.

"It wasn't a mistake," Diaz insists. "We spoke about the Cotto deal. We were asked which fight do we want, we were asked if we wanted the Williams fight, we wanted the Cotto fight and we always said we wanted the fight that's going to give us the most money. That's the fight that we wanted. Bob said, 'We already know the biggest fight was with Cotto.' Yes it was, that was the bigger money and unfortunately the situation with the extension came about and there was an agreement when Bob told us to take the Williams
Fight - we took his word."

According to Diaz, last Friday, as negotiations to finalize the Cotto fight stalled, a frustrated Arum would tell them to take the Williams fight.

"That's what he told us to do," Diaz recalls. "Basically told us,' Y'know what? Go take the Williams fight.' That's what we did. But I guess now there's trouble because we did what Bob was asking us to do. But again, we took this fight knowing that we're still under a promotional contract with Top Rank. We were going into that Williams fight representing Top Rank, not representing Dan Goossen or intending to sign any deals with Dan Goossen, other than the bout agreement to fight Williams to fight our mandatory, to defend our title."

It seemed to be a game of chicken they were more than willing to play.

"When Bob and Todd (duBoef) tell us the way things are going to be, that's the way things are," Diaz says. "So we went out and took the Williams fight but now we're being told that we made a big mistake. That we actually didn't have the right to take the fight."

But Arum, ever the comedian, says he wasn't being serious.

"Of course it was a facetious statement," he would say of his comments directed towards Margarito's management that day. "They know it was facetious, the way it came out, the way it sounded. I mean they were saying they didn't want to fight Williams, so I said, 'Go f**k yourselves then.'"

As for Arum's claim that they instructed Top Rank to not participate in the purse bid, Diaz says, "We spoke on that, we met with Bob here in LA before their show at the Honda Center. We had a conference call with Todd, letting them know that Antonio was hurt. Bob and Todd said they would inform the WBO and ask them to postpone this purse bid because Antonio was hurt. Antonio was hurt and under an article in the WBO
rules they couldn't enforce a purse bid and make an injured fighter fight. Which is what we agreed on, we were hoping that we could postpone this purse bid until Tony was actually ready to fight. That's what we agreed on. The letter was sent to the WBO but they still went forward with their purse bid."

Well, now instead of being labeled a hypocrite, Margarito will now probably be accused of ducking Cotto. But what now? Does he face him or that guy Williams?

"I think now having precipitously done what they've done, maybe they'll pay Williams some step-aside money or whatever," said Arum. "But they're crazy, the day they ran and signed with Williams, they hit me up for another $100,000."

As for the threat of litigation should Margarito face Williams?

"I hope not, I really do hope not," said Diaz, mulling the possibility. "Again, we went into this bout representing Top Rank. We didn't go out there representing Goossen-Tutor or representing Margarito Promotions. No, no, we're going into this bout representing Top Rank. But now we're being told we weren't able to do that. So I guess we're just waiting to see what is going to happen. We want to sit down and make this right."

Cotto, who faces Otkay Urkal on March 3rd, is currently left without a set opponent for June 9th.

"Hopefully, Margarito and his people will have some sense," said Arum. "Because we're not letting him go ahead with the Williams fight and they'll agree to the Cotto fight. And if they don't, we'll get another opponent."
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