chillin
05-16-2007, 06:16 PM
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Long standing WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (34-4, 24KO) will defend his title against mandatory challenger Paul Williams (32-0, 24KO) from the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on the night of July 14th.
Margarito, who was tentatively slated to face WBA champ Miguel Cotto on June 9th, opted to face Williams instead to avoid being stripped of the title he has held for five years. The bout will be part of a HBO’s Boxing After Dark tripleheader which also includes Arturo Gatti versus the Contender’s Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron against Argentina’s Walter Matthysse from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.
The always accommodating “Tijuana Tornado” shared his thoughts on his upcoming bout as well as what he learned from the mega fight between De La Hoya-Mayweather..
Antonio, have you started your preparations for your fight with Paul Williams on July 14th?
I am training right now here in Tijuana but tomorrow (Sunday May 13th) I leave for Los Angeles to concentrate for two months like I have always done.
Have you discussed with your team the type of sparring that you will need to get ready for Williams since he is a rival with very unique physical attributes?
In reality, I don’t know who will be available for sparring but I have spoken with my manager Sergio Diaz and he assured me that we have the adequate sparring to come up with a good strategy so that we can defend the title.
Without revealing too much of your strategy how do you see that fight against Paul Williams developing?
Paul Williams is a very tall fighter, a fighter with reach. But he doesn’t know how to take advantage of his reach. We are going to go to the inside and he likes to fight on the inside so that is to our advantage. We are going to come up with a great strategy and I dare to say that I am going to knock him out.
After your win against Clottey, there was much talk about you facing Miguel Cotto in June, why didn’t that fight come to fruition?
There was talk of that fight and I was willing to have that fight but I had to recant because they were saying that they were going to strip me because I had to fight my mandatory. I wanted to fight Cotto as a champion so that I could unify against Cotto so I have to comply with my mandatory challenger and after that we will see about Cotto, but first things first and we are going to prepare ourselves very well for this fight with Williams.
There were reports that your promoter Bob Arum was upset with you since you took this fight with Williams instead of with Cotto have you and Arum smoothed out your problems?
Yes that is right. Well, what happened is that there even was a lawsuit involved but I don’t think it needed to get to that point; all we needed to do was talk. I say again, I didn’t want the Cotto fight because I need to fight my mandatory. I mentioned to them that if I wasn’t going to fight as a champion with Cotto for the chance to unify then I wasn’t going to fight with Cotto. If Cotto wanted to wait until I fought my mandatory then that was fine. Everything worked out at the end, everything is good with my team and everything is good with Top Rank, now we are ready to get down to business, Paul Williams is the key and I am not letting the opportunity go to waste so that I can verify and to stay the course with a fight against Mayweather now that he has beaten Oscar.
You mentioned Mayweather but before that, if everything comes out good against Williams, are you still interested in Cotto as long as he beats Judah?
Well, we have spoken about that, we have spoken to Top Rank and if we both are victorious then it is planned for either September or October but I don’t want to get ahead of myself, my mind is focused on Paul Williams and I wish Cotto luck against Judah so that we can have a good fight.
I am sure you watched the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight?
Yes I did. We all hoped for a different kind of fight but it was a good fight but we expected more from Oscar De La Hoya.
Of all the opponents that Mayweather has faced, Oscar De La Hoya resembles your physical attributes the most being that you are both taller, stronger and more natural to that weight class than Mayweather, did you see anything in that fight that would help you if you ever got to face Mayweather?
Look, Oscar De La Hoya had the power to knock him out. De La Hoya was always coming forward and Mayweather was back pedaling. Oscar was coming forward but he wasn’t throwing punches, he didn’t go after the body, he didn’t throw his jab, I don’t even thing he threw his jab ten times in the whole fight so in my opinion Oscar De La Hoya needed more. He didn’t need to go after the head so much, he needed to hit him on the chest, on the shoulders, wherever because we know that Mayweather moves his head a lot.
Last time we spoke you mentioned that you weren’t going to be calling out Mayweather because it was clear that he didn’t want the fight but when it is all said and done against Williams and/or Cotto, are you still interested in Mayweather?
Look, it's not so much that it doesn’t interest me because I did say that I wasn’t going to mention him anymore but it is what the fans are asking for. The fans are saying that here is Antonio Margarito, the welterweight champion of the world, and if the fans ask for it and everything comes out good with my previous obligations, I would be more that happy to face him.
You mentioned that Williams being the key for future fights, you think that by beating Williams it would open up the door for the Mayweather fight?
Absolutely, it is almost a done deal that beating Williams will get me a fight with Cotto, I think I have the style to beat Cotto, but first I have to be face my mandatory and then whichever fighter will come next.
:blunt:
Long standing WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (34-4, 24KO) will defend his title against mandatory challenger Paul Williams (32-0, 24KO) from the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on the night of July 14th.
Margarito, who was tentatively slated to face WBA champ Miguel Cotto on June 9th, opted to face Williams instead to avoid being stripped of the title he has held for five years. The bout will be part of a HBO’s Boxing After Dark tripleheader which also includes Arturo Gatti versus the Contender’s Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron against Argentina’s Walter Matthysse from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.
The always accommodating “Tijuana Tornado” shared his thoughts on his upcoming bout as well as what he learned from the mega fight between De La Hoya-Mayweather..
Antonio, have you started your preparations for your fight with Paul Williams on July 14th?
I am training right now here in Tijuana but tomorrow (Sunday May 13th) I leave for Los Angeles to concentrate for two months like I have always done.
Have you discussed with your team the type of sparring that you will need to get ready for Williams since he is a rival with very unique physical attributes?
In reality, I don’t know who will be available for sparring but I have spoken with my manager Sergio Diaz and he assured me that we have the adequate sparring to come up with a good strategy so that we can defend the title.
Without revealing too much of your strategy how do you see that fight against Paul Williams developing?
Paul Williams is a very tall fighter, a fighter with reach. But he doesn’t know how to take advantage of his reach. We are going to go to the inside and he likes to fight on the inside so that is to our advantage. We are going to come up with a great strategy and I dare to say that I am going to knock him out.
After your win against Clottey, there was much talk about you facing Miguel Cotto in June, why didn’t that fight come to fruition?
There was talk of that fight and I was willing to have that fight but I had to recant because they were saying that they were going to strip me because I had to fight my mandatory. I wanted to fight Cotto as a champion so that I could unify against Cotto so I have to comply with my mandatory challenger and after that we will see about Cotto, but first things first and we are going to prepare ourselves very well for this fight with Williams.
There were reports that your promoter Bob Arum was upset with you since you took this fight with Williams instead of with Cotto have you and Arum smoothed out your problems?
Yes that is right. Well, what happened is that there even was a lawsuit involved but I don’t think it needed to get to that point; all we needed to do was talk. I say again, I didn’t want the Cotto fight because I need to fight my mandatory. I mentioned to them that if I wasn’t going to fight as a champion with Cotto for the chance to unify then I wasn’t going to fight with Cotto. If Cotto wanted to wait until I fought my mandatory then that was fine. Everything worked out at the end, everything is good with my team and everything is good with Top Rank, now we are ready to get down to business, Paul Williams is the key and I am not letting the opportunity go to waste so that I can verify and to stay the course with a fight against Mayweather now that he has beaten Oscar.
You mentioned Mayweather but before that, if everything comes out good against Williams, are you still interested in Cotto as long as he beats Judah?
Well, we have spoken about that, we have spoken to Top Rank and if we both are victorious then it is planned for either September or October but I don’t want to get ahead of myself, my mind is focused on Paul Williams and I wish Cotto luck against Judah so that we can have a good fight.
I am sure you watched the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight?
Yes I did. We all hoped for a different kind of fight but it was a good fight but we expected more from Oscar De La Hoya.
Of all the opponents that Mayweather has faced, Oscar De La Hoya resembles your physical attributes the most being that you are both taller, stronger and more natural to that weight class than Mayweather, did you see anything in that fight that would help you if you ever got to face Mayweather?
Look, Oscar De La Hoya had the power to knock him out. De La Hoya was always coming forward and Mayweather was back pedaling. Oscar was coming forward but he wasn’t throwing punches, he didn’t go after the body, he didn’t throw his jab, I don’t even thing he threw his jab ten times in the whole fight so in my opinion Oscar De La Hoya needed more. He didn’t need to go after the head so much, he needed to hit him on the chest, on the shoulders, wherever because we know that Mayweather moves his head a lot.
Last time we spoke you mentioned that you weren’t going to be calling out Mayweather because it was clear that he didn’t want the fight but when it is all said and done against Williams and/or Cotto, are you still interested in Mayweather?
Look, it's not so much that it doesn’t interest me because I did say that I wasn’t going to mention him anymore but it is what the fans are asking for. The fans are saying that here is Antonio Margarito, the welterweight champion of the world, and if the fans ask for it and everything comes out good with my previous obligations, I would be more that happy to face him.
You mentioned that Williams being the key for future fights, you think that by beating Williams it would open up the door for the Mayweather fight?
Absolutely, it is almost a done deal that beating Williams will get me a fight with Cotto, I think I have the style to beat Cotto, but first I have to be face my mandatory and then whichever fighter will come next.
:blunt: