Submitted by admin on Sat, 2006-12-02 08:00. ::
By Paul Upham: After Floyd Mayweather Jr's dominating win over Carlos Baldomir on November 4, 'Pretty Boy' left no doubt in most people's minds that he is not only the best welterweight in the world, but the best boxer on the planet. But with a super fight with Oscar De La Hoya at junior middleweight now set for May 5 and Mayweather on the move up in weight again, the question now is who is the best at 147lbs?
By Paul Upham: After Floyd Mayweather Jr's dominating win over Carlos Baldomir on November 4, 'Pretty Boy' left no doubt in most people's minds that he is not only the best welterweight in the world, but the best boxer on the planet. Some still claim Mayweather is ducking Antonio Margarito, but with a super fight with Oscar De La Hoya at junior middleweight now set for May 5, most people will settle for that match instead. But with Mayweather on the move up in weight again, the question now is who is the best at 147lbs?
With two welterweight world title fights this Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Showtime Championship Boxing, the 147llbs division is the hot topic for fans this weekend. Unbeaten Puerto Rican's Miguel Cotto and Carlos Quintana clash for the vacant WBA welterweight title, while Mexican Antonio Margarito defends his WBO world title against Joshua Clottey from Ghana.
Other names of interest in the welterweight division include exciting tall, undefeated 25 year-old southpaw Paul Williams 32-0 (24), the tough 36 year-old Oktay Urkal 38-3 (12) who fought on with a broken jaw against Tszyu and 25 year-old Luis Collazo 27-2 (13) who gave Hatton so much trouble.
29 year-old Mayweather 37-0 (24) may be leaving the welterweight division for the time being, but there is plenty of other talent left for great fights to be made.
"I think De La Hoya will beat Mayweather and I don't think Mayweather will retire," he said. "He wants to be remembered as an all time great and its hard to criticize Floyd with what he's done, but you can't be an all time great having fought people like Baldomir."
Mayweather claims that Hatton turned down the chance to fight him in November. But the English 'Hitman' continues to talk up the fight for the future and trash talks him from across the pond.
"All of Mayweather's fights are the same and they're not exactly spectacles, not edge of your seat stuff," he said this week. "They carried him into to the Baldomir fight dressed like Russell Crowe, a warrior, but he ended up fighting more like Sheryl Crowe. He has great skill but he doesn't have you on the edge of your seat."
"It just showed that Floyd is very smart by fighting a guy that is too old," he said, "a guy that is past his prime, a guy that was not going to do anything to him. Floyd did not want to fight anyway, so he just boxed around him. Baldomir did not have the tools to chase him and bring him down, and I think that was a smart choice to make for him if he did not want to lose a fight."
Back to the fights at hand, a fresher Miguel Cotto 27-0 (22) is expected in the ring this weekend against Carlos Quintana 23-0 (18) after struggling to make the 140lbs limit in the final few defences of his WBO world title reign.
"It has been a really good training camp and a delight for me," he said, "knowing that I can feel strong. My stamina will be much greater for this fight. I think everything will be much better for this fight, and that will mean victory without a doubt on December 2."
While both are undefeated, 26 year-old Cotto has been more astutely promoted by Top Rank and made six defences of his WBO title and is well know to most boxing fans. Quintana is planning to put his own name in lights by being the first to beat Cotto.
"I recognize that Cotto is one of the best fighters at 140 pounds," he said, "however, I am looking forward to this opportunity to fight against him at 147. Hopefully (with a win), I will get the same exposure that he has been getting over the last few years."
While Hatton went up to welterweight to win the WBA title and is now dropping back down to junior welterweight, you won't find Cotto doing the same thing.
"My whole career has been about facing these kinds of challenges," he said. "I think throughout my career, one of my first early fights was against a world champion. A lot of people did not expect me to beat him, but I did. From then, my career has been like that. I expect challenges. If I did not think I was capable of winning this fight, I would not be here. I know that I am ready for it and that I am capable of winning the fight. So to me, it is just another great challenge of my career."
28 year-old Margarito has held the WBO welterweight title since March 2002. He has made six successful defences, with an unsuccessful challenge for the WBO junior middleweight belt in September 2004 where he lost a technical points decision after sustaining an accidental eye cut. With an impressive win this weekend, he can lay claim to being the best welterweight on the planet after Mayweather.
"In my championship reign, I have always expected to fight the best fighters," he said. "I was always hoping to make big, entertaining fights for everyone with the champions or whatever and no one ever accepted my challenge or wanted to fight. I am just looking to go forward. I want to fight the best fighters in the world and show everyone what I can do. It is not a question about them ducking me. It is just a question that no one has ever taken the fight with me."
The call from Margarito supporters and those connected with his team over the last year has been that Floyd Mayweather is ducking him. Not everyone buys it, but promoter Bob Arum did offer Mayweather US$8million to face Margarito in October, but "Pretty Boy" left his company Top Rank to pursue the fight with De La Hoya and eventually fought Baldomir instead.
"I think Floyd has seen enough of me to know how good I am," said Margarito. "I have proven myself more than once in the ring. As always, I am going to try to do the best I can, but I think Floyd does not want to fight me and I am through asking him to fight me. I am done with that. I am moving forward. If he decides to fight me, fine. If he does not, that is fine with me, too."
With Mayweather out of the welterweight scene, what fans would like to see is a concerted effort to establish an undisputed welterweight world champion. Matching the two winners of this weekend's fights would be a good starting point.
"I always talk about unifying," said Margarito. "I would not mind fighting the winner of that fight. That would be unifying titles. But the last word is from Bob Arum. Whatever he decides he wants to do, I am willing to do. Whatever he says is what I am going to do."
If Margarito 33-4 (24) and Cotto both emerge victorious in Atlantic City, Arum may be reluctant to make a fight between two of his biggest stars right now, but one of them fighting IBF champion Kermit Cintron is a must.
"I do not see why not. I would be willing to fight him (Cintron) any time he wants," said Margarito, not surprisingly having already beaten him once before.
"I think they are both excellent fighters," he said. "Cotto has proven himself to be a great champion. Quintana has proven himself to be a good boxer. I think it is just going to be a great fight. Like I said, I would not mind fighting either of those two guys."
"This fight is going to be very exciting," said Clottey. "I respect Margarito a lot. I love the way he fights. It is the way I fight. So I think it is going to be a very exciting match. I know definitely he is going to throw punches like I am going to do. But I think we all know that only the strong survive. So if he is the strongest, he is going to survive. If I am the strongest, I am going to survive. Definitely, I am going to throw punches and he will throw a lot of hard punches."
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