Pacquiao foe Margarito to go beyond 150 lbs on fight night

While Manny Pacquiao aims to go under 150 pounds, his Mexican opponent Antonio Margarito is expected to go beyond the catch weight when they finally meet inside the ring next week for the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-welterweight championship. Robert Garcia, Margarito's trainer, said the towering "Tijuana Tornado" is likely to come in way above the catch weight of 151 pounds on the night of the fight itself. "I expect he will weigh about 158, 160 pounds," said Garcia at the conference call held by Top Rank Promotions for the November 13 bout at Arlington, Texas. Pacquiao, on the other hand, will enter the ring weighing not more than 150 pounds as desired by trainer Freddie Roach, further emphasizing the physical discrepancies between the two fighters. Margarito holds five-inch and six-inch advantages in height and reach, respectively , over the 31-year-old Pacquiao. Despite the seeming edge he holds over the fighter considered the best in the prizefighting business today, the 32-year-old Mexican isn't taking the 12-round fight easily. "I would never consider it an easy fight or think I have big advantages over him because I don’t," said Margarito, who is on a comeback trail following a one-year suspension from the sport after being caught with illegal hand wraps during his January 2009 title fight against Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles, California. "He (Pacquiao) may think he can be a big puncher in this weight division, so I want to get up in the ring to see what we can do to each other." While in training camp in Oxnard, California, Garcia tapped the services of four sparmates (Cleotis Pendavis, Ricardo Williams, Austin Trout and KC Martinez), who all come close to the fighting style of Pacquiao. "We have four great sparring partners. They have speed. They have very good skills and a lot of power," said Garcia. "All four combined did a great job in preparing us for this fight. They gave us great sparring and we are very happy." Margarito added, "I was very happy with the sparring we got for this fight. We got some guys that are very quick and really fast. We have one guy that is a 154-pounder and very strong. I think we had some of the best sparring I ever had for a camp. I want to thank them because they really made me work hard and I think I had a really good training camp with sparring." Both Margarito and Garcia respect Pacquiao as the top pound-for-pound fighter of the world, but they think they have got what it takes to beat the man. "I have always admired Pacquiao's career. He has done good things in boxing. He is a seven-time world champion. You can't beat that," said Garcia. "But watching his fights over and over, we know he makes mistakes." – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV