ARLINGTON, Tex. – Boxing history is littered with great fighters going one weight class too high. The oddsmakers still say Filipino Manny Pacquiao has not made that mistake. But if Saturday’s fight brings an unexpected loss for Pacquiao, no forensic team will be needed to uncover a cause. The evidence will be found on the scale.
Friday afternoon at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao and Mexican Antonio Margarito took the indoor stage of the East Side Plaza before a roaring crowd of perhaps 1,000 fight fans – moved inside by the possibility of rain. Both fighters were bundled up in multiple layers, as the Texas temperature had dropped 20 degrees in a few hours.
Margarito weighed the fight’s contracted maximum of 150 pounds. Pacquiao weighed 144.6. If Margarito’s weight was expected, Pacquiao’s was another thing entirely.
Throughout the promotion of Pacquiao-Margarito, questions have arisen about Pacquiao’s commitment to his training regimen. The naturally smaller man, by a significant margin, Pacquiao was expected to add muscle enough to weigh at least the welterweight limit of 147 pounds. He wasn’t close.
More intrigue happened when the two men stood beside one another.
After Margarito approached the scale in an all-black track suit, gold chain and gold earrings, and made weight, with a loud and mixed reception from Mexican and Filipino fans, he waited for Pacquiao to disrobe and mount the scale. And then came the customary stare-down. It held a surprise.
Margarito wore the more defined of the two bodies on Friday’s stage.
Pacquiao’s physique was muscular, not shredded. Margarito, meanwhile, was taller, wider, and closer to “ripped.”
Friday’s weight, though, may be only the beginning of the story. Pacquiao is believed to have eaten freely this week, as he has regularly during fight weeks since his move to welterweight in 2008, and if that is the case, he may not even weigh as much on Saturday as he did Friday afternoon. Margarito, on the other hand, is fully expected to be above the middleweight limit of 160 pounds, and maybe quite a bit above it.
Pacquiao remains the favorite, because of speed and class. But a fight that was already more interesting than initially expected grew more interesting, still, Friday.
Saturday’s Pacquiao-Margarito card is scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM local time, with Cowboys Stadium doors opening at 4:00 PM. The pay-per-view portion of the card will begin at 8:00, with the main event scheduled to start at 10:00. 15rounds.com will have full ringside coverage.
Photo By Chris Farina / Top Rank
