To the general public and casual sports fan, this weekend's superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito is for the Jr. Middleweight championship of the world. To the boxing fan in the know, this is simply a scrap between two stars with a paper belt thrown in the mix. The truth is that the two are only fighting over the paper WBC belt that's on the line because the real champion, Sergio Martinez, was forced to vacate it when he chose to stay at middleweight. So would beating Margarito make Pac "the man" at 154? Not really. Anyone who really follows the sport knows that the two guys in command at that weight division are the same two on top at 160, or a term more familiar to the casual sports fan "Middleweight."
Most aren't giving Margarito much of a chance. The common belief is that it will be an easy night for Pac who will dart circles around Margarito all night with no trouble of finding his target. But it's highly unlikely the feeling be the same if Pac was fighting Sergio Martinez or Paul Williams. The two fighters unquestionably the best between 154 and 160 go at it just a week later after Pacquiao-Margarito to try to figure out once and for all which of the two are the best. Martinez has the 160 title but Williams has a win over Martinez in a close match between the two just a year ago. Williams and Martinez are generally considered the #3 and #4 pound-for-pound best fighters in the world, respectively, which begs the question if Pacquiao can't fight the #2 guy out there in Floyd Mayweather how would he do against #3 and #4?
Nobody would ever blame Pacquiao or diminish his greatness for avoiding a fight with the two. Pacquiao already has the record for titles in the most division, and Martinez is so much bigger and Williams so much taller than Pac that nobody could criticize the Filipino sensation for opting not to make yet another jump in weight. However, there's no question that the significance of a lineal championship fight at middleweight would have a huge impact toward Pacquiao's legacy, certainly far beyond what Margarito can do for him. In terms of popularity throughout history, the top three weight classes in boxing generally look like #1 Heavyweight, #2 Welterweight, and #3 Middleweight. If Pacquiao's legacy is primarily being known as the one man who could carry his power and speed up so far in weight that he could win titles in nine separate weight divisions, capping it off at middleweight would be a hell of a feather to put in his cap.
Would anyone really want to get involved in this? Who knows, Pacquiao just might.Not too long ago I asked Pacquiao himself about the subject. "No, no! Too big! I want to go back down!" he told me, laughing. Even he seemed amused at the depth of his own legacy, apparently finding it absurd to the point of laughter at my mere suggestion of shooting for a title in additional weight class beyond this weekend. So is the door officially closed on the chance of seeing Pacquiao establish himself as the baddest man on the planet at 160? I went to Freddie.
"Of course it's a possibility," he said. When pressed on Manny's apparent refusal to ever pursue a middleweight strap: "Yeah but he's said that before. He said that before we went to welterweight too and look how that turned out."
I asked Freddie if he preferred Pacquiao fight Sergio Martinez instead of Paul Williams because of the possible seven inches in height that his fighter would be giving up. "No. They're both very talented fighters. Either one of them could present problems."
The more interesting of the two potential Pacquiao opponents is indeed Williams, however. Why? Paul Williams has been saying ever since he's started campaigning at 154 and 160 about how he's a natural welterweight and can fight at 147 at the drop of a hat. His recent 30-day weigh in for the Martinez fight of 162 lbs seems to support his claim. Even if not fought at middleweight, Williams sounds like he could easily compete with Pacquiao at the 147lb weight Pac feels most comfortable at. Would a fight between the #1 and #3 pound for pound fighters in the world be intriguing, even if a title at a new weight class wasn't on the line for Pacquiao? Absolutely.
So could a ninth title and middleweight be down the road for the street-urchin-turned-championship-fighter-turned-congressman? Who knows, but one thing is for sure the next two weekends will be very interesting in speculating whether or not that move ever takes place. Based on how well Pacquiao performs against the much bigger Antonio Margarito, Roach might feel more or less reluctant on sending his guy into even heavier territory. And if either Williams or Martinez looks particularly sensational in their victory the weekend after that Bob Arum might not be too keen on risking his golden goose in a bid for the middleweight championship. In any case, Pacquiao's legacy is set even without a belt at 160. Let's just hope the division can still produce fireworks without him. Pacquiao-Margarito is this Saturday and Williams-Martinez is just a week later.