Floyd Mayweather didn’t want to get beaten with plaster-laden gloves, so he never agreed to face Antonio Margarito.
The boxing legend discussed the possibility of facing Margarito during his prime when former opponents Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao agreed to. Mayweather feared to tread where his rivals did after Margarito got suspended for one year in a loaded glove controversy.
Shane Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson, found Margarito to have a substance similar to ‘plaster of Paris’ in his hand wraps before a welterweight bout in 2009. The Mexican lost the fight but was scrutinized for what had been uncovered in the dressing room.
Similar ‘loaded gloves’ findings tarnished his fight against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, six months earlier. However, once the ban was lifted, Pacquiao laid down a twelve-round battering on Margarito in 2010.
The beatdown aired live on HBO PPV as Pacquiao won the most unanimous decision possible for the WBC super welterweight belt.
Cotto would get his revenge in a 2011 rematch.
In Floyd’s next fight, he fought Mosley before semi-retiring for a year. It was never a question of if he’d face Margarito. After what happened in the Mosley and Cotto bouts, Mayweather would never roll the dice against ‘The Tijuana Tornado’ during his career.
Instead of Mayweather vs. Margarito, ‘Money’ faced Zab Judah for the IBF welterweight title, and added the WBC crown against Carlos Baldomir. He then signed the money-spinning Oscar De La Hoya fight, and battled Ricky Hatton in the run-up to Margarito’s misdemeanors.
Mayweather eventually agreed to a record-breaking Showtime contract for a 2011 run after publicly severing ties with Bob Arum and Top Rank.
In an interview with FightHype, Mayweather was asked if he wished he’d agreed to fight Antonio Margarito when his name popped up. Mayweather replied honestly.
“My career went the way it went, so if God wanted me to fight somebody, I would have fought whoever he wanted me to fight,” explained the ex-welterweight champion.
“God chose the fighters that he wanted me to fight. When you look back on my career, you have to say I beat more Hall of Famers than anyone else in the sport of boxing.
“[But Margarito] He was cheating, beating fighters with a cast in his glove. I didn’t want that to happen to me, so it didn’t happen,” he added.
Margarito retired from boxing with eye problems after a controversial victory over the late Carson Jones in 2017.
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Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, an experienced boxing writer and World Boxing News Editor since 2010.
