Margarito true warrior, Arum warns

DALLAS – Oscar dela Hoya. Miguel Cotto. Joshua Clottey.

Three big men Manny Pacquiao had faced. Three big men Manny Pacquiao had defeated.

Now comes Antonio Margarito, taller, heavier and maybe even better than the three who had come before him.

Bob Arum last Thursday spelled the difference.

“Oscar is the kind of fighter that when he saw how much speed Manny has, in his heart he quit,” Arum, his slow, distinct voice, told reporters at the makeshift gym of the Gaylord Texan Hotel.

“It took him eight rounds before he finally threw it in, but he quit right from the first round. Joshua Clottey did the same thing even though he lasted 12 rounds,” said the chief of Top Rank Promotions.

And Cotto?

“Miguel is the same kind of guy as Margarito. But he was able to wear Miguel down,” said Arum of his Top Rank fighters who figured in a bruising 11-round encounter in 2008.

Margarito won that one. In 2009, Pacquiao made Cotto quit in the 12th.

Does this make Margarito a tougher opponent for Pacquiao?

“This guy is no quitter,” said Arum.

“This guy is a true Mexican warrior and he’s not gonna be discouraged, he’s not gonna quit, he’s gonna be in there trying right from the beginning. Therefore it becomes a much more difficult fight.”

Arum remembered the night Margarito and Cotto clashed in Las Vegas for the WBA welterweight crown.

“The first four rounds Miguel gave him hell, and then he (Margarito) came on, turned the fight and Miguel had nothing left,” Arum said.

Pacquiao has to bring the fight to Margarito because, Arum continued, this Mexican will always be there until he’s made to quit.

“He has to fight Margarito until there’s nothing left in Margarito’s tank and it stops. Margarito is never gonna stop willingly,” he told reporters.