Antonio Margarito is planning a comeback in December
Antonio Margarito was once a slightly feared fighter because of his tenaciousness and ability to stalk his opponents for 12 rounds, but has been out of the sport for 4 years nursing an eye injury that was caused by Manny Pacquio and worsened by Miguel Cotto. Should he comeback, and will he be anywhere near what he used to be is the question.
When fighters retire or take long leaves of absence from sports, especially boxing, they tend to lose attributes and never seem to be the same when they return, but I think Margarito has a slight edge in this department. Margarito didn’t have a bunch of attributes to begin with, so he doesn’t have many to lose, which is a good thing, kind of. Attributes like speed, agility, reflexes, etc. are the ones that deteriorate with age and have the harder time coming back when they leave, but Margarito didn’t have either of them.
His stable of weapons was walking forward and smothering his opponent with constant pressure but he wasn’t fast, he fights flat footed, and he seem to never really care about defense. So, if his eye is completely healed, as he says is, then I see no reason why he couldn’t return to the ring and pick up where he left off.
Some say he had success because of illegal hand wraps he was caught wearing before he fought Shane Mosley, but no one truly knows which fights he used them in, if any, so I will refrain from giving my opinion about that. That being said, Margarito could definitely come back in true form and stalk fighters in the middleweight division and collect pay checks.
I’m speaking from a boxing fan perspective and not a family member or morally correct citizen, which is why I don’t speak on health concerns that can come from him blocking punches with his face, which he has done throughout his career. If I was one of those individuals then I would tell Margarito to stay retired because there really isn’t much upside to his return other than a few paychecks, but is it worth his health? The way the boxing world is, he could fight a few tune ups and end up fighting the likes of GGG on PPV, so to answer that question, Yes… It very well might be worth his health to his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank…
