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Unless there is a last-minute snafu, it appears the July 26 welterweight title unification fight between Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto is going to be contested in Las Vegas, promoter Bob Arum told us Tuesday.
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Arum was on hand at a Los Angeles news conference promoting the June 28 lightweight title fight between champion David Diaz of Chicago and Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Margarito-Cotto at one point appeared headed to New York City's Madison Square Garden partly because Arum said the Nevada State Athletic Commission stipulated that welterweights wear 10-ounce gloves rather than eight. But that rule was amended, and it looks as if the bout will indeed be fought at the MGM Grand.
This brings us to the fight itself. Arum promotes four of the most exciting and hard-hitting fighters in the world in Cotto, Margarito, Pacquiao and Kelly Pavlik. That he is pitting two of those monsters against each other is ultra cool.
After giving us the news on the venue, Arum spoke briefly about what figures to be a thriller.
"When you're in that situation, you have to ignore the fact that they're both your fighters, that you promote both of them, and ask yourself if this is the fight the public most wants to see," Arum said. "And if the answer is yes, you do the fight.
"You don't force it, but you do it. And you look at all the welterweights out there, and you think about the fights that people really want to see -- yeah, Cotto-(Floyd) Mayweather would be No. 1, but that's not makeable -- and the next is Cotto-Margarito. And that's the one you do."
Can't wait.
Arum had lots on his mind Tuesday. Such as one of his other stars, middleweight champion Pavlik. The hero of Youngstown, Ohio, on June 7 in Atlantic City will defend his two championship belts against Gary Lockett of Wales. Lockett, 31, is 30-1 with 21 knockouts. But his list of opponents is not exactly awe-inspiring.
In other words, Pavlik should breeze. And then what? Perhaps a fight at super middleweight with another guy from Wales, Joe Calzaghe. It's being worked on.
"We'll have talks in New York before his fight with Lockett and after about matching him with Calzaghe at 168," Arum said. "I have preliminarily discussed this with Frank Warren, who appears to be on board and Frank will be with me in New York and Atlantic City all that week and hopefully we'll be able to put it together."
Warren promotes Calzaghe.
Arum said if this fight were to materialize, it would probably be in the fall. He said if it is to be televised on pay-per-view, it would likely be in Las Vegas. If not, it could end up in the United Kingdom.
