Floyd Mayweather fought almost everyone from his era during his illustrious career.
However, one fight that never materialised was a bout with former WBA, WBO and IBF welterweight champion Antonio Margarito.
Back in 2006, Top Rank were pushing aggressively for Mayweather to fight Margarito.
Bob Arum‘s promotional outfit offered ‘TBE’ $8million to face the Mexican puncher.
But Mayweather rejected the proposition and went on to buy himself out of his Top Rank contract for a fee of $750,000.
Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe later revealed that his client had passed on the fight due to a hand injury sustained in his previous bout with Zab Judah.
“Floyd is not 100 percent healthy,” Ellerbe told ESPN.
“He has a bruised right hand. His hand is not broken. It’s bruised, but it’s a bad bruise.
“He wants to go into any fight 100 percent healthy. If Antonio Margarito happens to be the best available option when he is healthy, so be it.
“We are not turning down Margarito. I want to make that crystal clear.
“When and if he is the best available option for Floyd’s next fight, that’s the direction he will move in.”
In the end, Mayweather opted to defend his WBC welterweight title against Ricky Hatton while Margarito moved on.
Looking back on it now, Mayweather is glad it turned out that way.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he told the It is What it is podcast.
“You’re not gonna be able to fight everybody, so they’re gonna always have something to say about a certain opponent.
“‘Well, Floyd didn’t fight him, Floyd didn’t fight this guy’. I fought all the guys that were put in front of me.
“With the Antonio Margarito fight, I’m actually glad that the fight didn’t happen. My career is very important to me.
“And anything can happen in the sport of boxing. Antonio Margarito, he’s a cheater when it’s all said and done.
“You see what happened to Miguel Cotto when he fought Antonio Margarito the first time. That could’ve easily been me.”
In 2009, Margarito landed in hot water before his fight with Shane Mosley after his trainer, Naazim Richardson, observed Margarito a pasty white substance in his handwraps.
A laboratory tested the wet pads and confirmed the substance was similar in nature to plaster of Paris, which is used to make casts.
As a result, Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo were banned from boxing for a year.
His career-best stoppage win over Cotto in 2008 was subsequently called into question with further examination of photos from the fight showing red stains on Margarito’s hand wraps that are consistent with the stains on the inserts from the Mosley bout.
Cotto would go on to exact his revenge by retiring Margarito on his stool when they rematched in 2011.
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