by James Riddick

Created on: January 12, 2009

Antonio Margarito's record currently stands at 37-5, which doesn't sound that impressive, but these headline figures don't do justice to an extraordinary fighter.

Three defeats in his first twelve professional bouts did not discourage a young Margarito from becoming a formidable fighter with a respectable professional record, culminating in his brutal demolition of Miguel Cotto and becoming WBA Welterweight champion of the world.

In fact, after losing that twelfth professional fight, Margarito went undefeated, bar a cut caused by an accidental head butt against Daniel Santos in 2004, for eleven clear years, June 1996 to July 2007.

Then defeat only came against the massively underrated Paul Williams, who like Margarito, is now receiving some of the credit he is due, moving between 147 to 160lbs and taking down all in his path. In fact, both fighters have at different times been given the tag "the most avoided man in boxing", and with good reason. Depending upon the outcome of Margarito's bout with Shane Mosley in January 2009, and then a possible return with Cotto, Margarito may wish to try and avenge this loss against the Punisher. This, along with a Cotto rematch, could be the fight of 2009.

But for the fact that many fighters have chosen to avoid Margarito, in particular Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr, we may have seen some truly epic battles and Margarito's record could have been even more impressive. In fact, Floyd Mayweather Jr is rumoured to have turned down a career high purse to face Margarito, showing just how dangerous the Mexican is seen to be.

Victories over hard punching Kermit Cintron, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Diaz and most recently Miguel Cotto, give some depth and substance to the numbers, which on face value don't tell the whole story.

So, of Margarito's five defeats, three where due to the inexperience of a young fighter, still only 18, one due to a cut caused by an accidental head butt and one to a universally underrated fighter, who throws over 100 punches a round and is possibly the only man in boxing who could out-work Antonio Margarito, which is exactly what he did on his way to a unanimous decision, when broken down Margarito's record deserves more credit than it may be given on first glance.

With a January bout against Shane Mosley coming up, Margarito has the opportunity to add another notable name to his impressive resume, albeit that Mosley no longer has the devastating speed, accuracy and power which once made him such an awesome fighter.

Look for Margarito to walk through all Mosley has to throw at him and wear him down, much the same way he did to Cotto, taking all Mosley has to offer, whilst dishing out straight, stiff jabs and the odd crushing combination. Margarito will I believe win this fight by stoppage in the 6th round.

Where Margarito goes from here is, to me, clear. He should pursue rematches against both Miguel Cotto, which I feel he will again dominate and win convincingly, and then seek to avenge that 2007 loss to Paul Williams, which is a much tougher contest to predict.

Following this, and should he be victorious, the man everyone will want to see him face is Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, given the Pretty Boy's previous unwillingness to face Margarito, Floyd may choose to duck him again, given he will most likely still have an unblemished record to protect and Margarito is such a dangerous and brutal opponent to face.

If Mayweather Jr did choose to face the Mexican warrior, expect a touch fight, with Floyd on the back foot for much of the time, as with many of his bouts, using his lethal counter punching to try and neutralise Margarito's immense work rate, with the Pretty Boy ultimately edging a very close decision.

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