Relaxed, resilient Margarito confident heading into fight with Pacquiao

LOS ANGELES -- For someone who is two weeks from getting into the ring for the biggest fight of his life, Antonio Margarito is a picture of serenity.

He's not agitated. He's not uptight. Unlike his next opponent, he faces no distractions from moonlighting as a politician.

Instead, Margarito is tanned, relaxed, jovial and confident as he prepares for his Nov. 13 super welterweight showdown against Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"Things are going great," the 32-year-old Margarito said through an interpreter during his media day workout Thursday at Fortune Gym. "I've had no problems whatsoever. If I had to fight this weekend, I'd be ready to."

He can afford to wait the two weeks. Besides, after battling bureaucrats for more than a year after the California State Athletic Commission revoked his license following a hand-wrapping incident before a January 2009 fight against Shane Mosley, Margarito (38-6, 27 knockouts) is looking forward to hitting someone -- and not have to worry about needing a lawyer to defend him when he does so.

"My focus is on this fight," he said. "What's in the past is done. I can't change what happened.

"This is an important fight for me, probably the biggest of my career. It's a chance to be a world champion again, and that is my motivation -- that and to win for the people who have stuck with me through everything I have been through."

Margarito credits his new trainer, Robert Garcia, for getting him ready for Pacquiao (51-3, 38 KOs).

"I have had a lot of confidence with him since we first worked together," Margarito said of Garcia, who trained him in his comeback fight in May when he beat Roberto Garcia in Mexico. "But this time, it has been so much better. I trust him much more. When he says something, I believe it."

Garcia said Margarito never questions anything.

"You point something out to him, he listens, then he corrects it," Garcia said. "I think the trust between the two of us has grown over the past few months, and he's really paying close attention to details in camp. Nothing gets by him."

Garcia has been working with Margarito in their Oxnard, Calif., camp on cutting down the ring and improving his footwork to negate Pacquiao's superior speed. But Garcia said he's not buying the news out of the Pacquiao camp that Pacquiao's training has not gone well.

"Not for a minute," he said. "Manny Pacquiao is a professional, and I know he'll be ready to fight Nov. 13, which is what we want. We want Manny at his best so there won't be any excuses when we beat him."

When Margarito lost to Mosley in 2009, his weight was an issue. At one point, he was 40 pounds above the welterweight limit, and by the time he got down to 145, he had little strength and energy and was soundly thrashed by Mosley, who earned a ninth-round knockout.

For the Pacquiao fight, which will be for the WBC super welterweight title but will be contested at a catch weight of 151 pounds instead of the usual 154, Margarito already is in shape. He has watched his weight throughout his training camp, which began last month, and was at 160 on Thursday.

"His weight hasn't fluctuated," said Margarito's manager, Sergio Diaz. "He's got someone cooking for him. He's taking vitamin supplements. He's eating pretty much whatever he wants.

"We ask him every day how he's feeling, and he says, 'Great.' He's right where he needs to be."

Said Margarito: "For this fight, I have controlled the weight very well. For Mosley, I trained for the fight, but I trained to make the weight."

Margarito said he's not taking anything for granted, particularly the fact he's taller than Pacquiao by nearly 5 inches, has a 7-inch reach advantage and is considered the stronger of the two.

"You can't say because I'm bigger he can't hurt me," Margarito said. "Any fighter can hurt the other if he gets careless."

Contact sports reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or at 702-387-2913.