PRIDE N' PUNISHMENT
MARGARITO Vs. WILLIAMS

Antonio Margarito Vs. Paul Williams
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Distributed by Canadastar Boxing Inc.
For Canadian Commercial Establishments
Live On Closed Circuit-Pay Per View

ANTONIO MARGARITO

PROFILE

- As At 09 June 2007 -

Twenty-eight year-old, Antonio Margarito has been fighting 11 1/2 years as a pro.

He has held the WBO welterweight world title since March 2002, and has made seven successful title defenses. He is coming off a hard-fought 12 round decision win in his last fight against Joshua Clottey on December 2. Antonio had scored three knockout wins in a row before that.

Antonio has earned the reputation in the last year as one of the most avoided fighters in the ring – a number or lucrative fights offered to some of boxing’s biggest names have been ignored.
He said, “I have always expected to fight the best fighters out there. I always hope to make big entertaining fights for everyone with other champions. But no one ever accepted my challenge or accepted to fight me. I am just looking to go forward and fight the best fighters in the world and show everyone what I can do. It’s not a question about them ducking me. It is just a question of them not taking the fight with me. How do you make sense of that?”

Antonio turned pro at the age of 15. He said, “It all comes down to money here. We were living in poverty, and I wanted to help my family. When you are in Mexico, you want to come fight in the United States and make a name for yourself and I think that’s how I began. I knew the fights were important, because then the fans would follow my career, people that liked the way I fought. Early on, I didn’t have the experience to show the people what I could really do. After time, the experience took over and that’s why you see a different fighter today.”

He has fought good opposition throughout his career and has several impressive wins. He was the underdog in several of his early fights, and had a few setbacks in his first two years as a pro - he was 9-3 in his first 12 fights.

Antonio is 24-1, 1 No Contest, in his last 26 fights dating back to June, 1996, and has been very impressive at 147 pounds. The one loss he has had in the last nine years came when he moved up in weight to 154 pounds and challenged WBO jr. middleweight champion Daniel Santos in September, 2004.

PROFESSIONAL RECORD OF KEY FIGHTS

2006

December: Won 7th WBO Welterweight World Title Defense by a 12-round unanimous decision against Joshua Clottey (30-1). In a hard-fought battle, Clottey started fast and swept the 2nd and 3rd rounds on all three scorecards and won the 4th on two; but Antonio rallied in the 5th and stepped up his pace in the second half of the fight. He swept rounds five through 11 on all three scorecards. After the fight, Antonio said, “10 months off really didn’t help me. I couldn’t get my rhythm early in the fight, but I definitely warmed up starting in the fifth round

February: Won 6th WBO Welterweight World Title Defense by TKO against Manuel Gomez. Margarito was very impresseve. He scored a knockdown with a series of punches in the 1st round, and the referee stopped the fight in mid-count at 1:14.

2005

April: Won 5th WBO Welterweight World Title Defense against previously undefeated Kermit Cintron (24-0) by TKO. It was a highly-anticipated event, but Antonio dominated the fight. He cut Cintron over the right eye with an uppercut in the 3rd round, then scored two knockdowns in the 4th. Antonio scored two more knockdown in the 5th round and Cintron's cornerman threw in the towel, and the referee stopped the fight at 2:21.

February: Won 4th WBO Welterweight World Title Defense against Sebastian Lujan (22-1-1) by TKO, when he dismantled the tough, durable Lujan in six rounds. The bout was stopped after the cartilage in Lujan's left ear had separated from the ear itself. The ear was also bleeding from a broken ear drum.

2004

September: Lost WBO Junior Middleweight World Title Challenge by Technical Split Decision against defending champion, Daniel Santos in the rematch. Santos has always been known for constant movement, but stayed in punching range. He staggered Margarito late in the 1st round and outworked him early in the fight. Antonio punched effectively to the body and came on strongly in the middle rounds, but was badly cut on his right eyebrow by a clash of heads in the 6th. The remaining rounds were close, but the ringside doctor stopped the fight on the cut in the 9th round, after his third examination of the injury and the fight went to the scorecards. It looked like the decision could go either way, and many ringsiders thought Margarito deserved to win, but the judges scored in favour of Santos.

January: Won 3RD WBO Welterweight World Title Defense by TKO against previously undefeated Hercules Kyvelos. Margarito headlined the card and gave an overwhelming performance. He buckled Kyvelos' knees with a left uppercut midway through the 1st round, and trapped him on the ropes later in the round with an unanswered series of punches. Kyvelos landed his best punch of the fight early in the 2nd round with a straight right hand to the chin, but Antonio just smiled, nodded his head in recognition, and knocked down Kyvelos, flat on his side with a left uppercut. Kyvelos got up, but was very unsteady and staggered backwards into the ropes without a punch being thrown. Antonio attacked and the referee stopped the fight.

2003

October: Won by KO against Maurice Brantley in a non-title 10-rounder. Margarito scored one knockdown in the 1st round and scored another knockdown in the 2nd with a left hook to the body, and Brantley was counted out.

February: Won 2nd WBO Welterweight World Title Defense by TKO against former WBA welterweight world champion, Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis. Lewis started fast and outworked Margarito in the 1st round, but Antonio just smiled at him through the punches. In the 2nd round, Antonio staggered Lewis with a right hand, and followed with a series of punches that left him sagging into the ropes and defenseless, and the referee stopped the fight.

2002

October: Won 1st WBO Welterweight World Title Defense by 12-round unanimous decision against Danny Perez. Margarito dominated the fight and rocked Perez in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th rounds. He constantly pressured Perez and wore him down.

March: Won vacant WBO Welterweight World Title by TKO against Antonio Diaz in an impressive performance in an exciting fight. The scores were even after six rounds, but Antonio kept a relentless pace, swept rouns 7, 8 and 9 on two scorecards, and gradually wore down Diaz. Margarito scored a knockdown in the 10th round with a series of uppercuts. Diaz got up, but Antonio rocked him several more times and Diaz' corner threw in the towel to stop the fight.

2001

July: WBO Welterweight World Title Challenge ruled No Contest against Daniel Santos. The fight had a premature ending. The fighters accidentally clashed heads in the first round and Antonio was badly cut on the right eyebrow, causing the referee to stop the fight.

March: Won by KO against Robert West. Margarito scored two knockdowns, the first with a series of right hands to the body, the second with a left hook to the body, and stopped West in the first round.

2000

December: Won by TKO against former three-time world champion, Frankie Randall. Margarito dominated the fight. He hurt Randall badly late in the third, staggered him late in the fourth, and Randall did not answer the bell for the fifth round.

September: Won by TKO against Jose Benitez in the 1st round.

June: Won by KO against two-time world title challenger, David Kamau. Margarito scored two knockdowns in the 2nd round, and the referee stopped the fight without a count.

February: Won by TKO against previously undefeated Sergio Martinez. Margarito scored a knockdown in the 7th round and stopped Martinez.

1999

December: Won by KO against Efrain Munoz. Margarito scored two knockdowns in the first round and one in the second when Munoz was counted out.

October: Won by TKO against veteran, Buck Smith. Margarito stopped him with a body punch in the sixth round.

June: Won 8-Round Split Decision against Danny Perez. Margarito was knocked down in the first round, but came back strong to win. Perez went on to win the NABF title.

1998

December: Won by KO against Reyes Estrada in the 2nd round.

April: Won 8-Round Decision against veteran, Miguel "Jarocho" Gonzalez.

1996

October: Won by KO against heavily-favored Alfred Ankamah. Margarito staggered Ankamah in the second round and he barely survived. Ankamah recovered and was coming on strong in the fourth when Margarito knocked him down and out with two right hands.

June: Lost 10-Round Decision against slick southpaw, Rodney Jones, who frustrated Margarito with his speed and constant movement.

February: Lost 10-Round Decision against Larry Dixon.