Is Antonio Margarito Deserving Of a Shot at Manny Pacquiao?

After tons of trash were thrown at him by boxing fans around the world for having been caught with illegal hand wraps minutes before facing Shane Mosley last year and after serving his license suspension term, Antonio Margarito is back in business, armed with a new boxing license from the state of Texas.

Margarito has not just been granted with a "clean bill of health" by the Texas licensing body, but he was rewarded with the rare opportunity to face Manny Pacquiao, who is regarded by millions of people around the world as the greatest boxer of this generation.

Almost all contenders in the welterweight and middleweight divisions were salivating at every opportunity to face Pacquiao, not only for the tons of money that the fight will bring, but also, most importantly, for the prestige of facing the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Any professional boxer who faces Pacquiao at this time, when the Filipino boxer is on top of his career, becomes an instant sports celebrity and millionaire many times over.

These rewards were handed to Margarito on a silver platter by the world's most influential boxing promoter, who is in control of the boxing careers of both Pacquiao and Margarito.

How lucky indeed is Antonio Margarito for the rare opportunity to face Pacquiao at the peak of his boxing career.

But the boxing world cries out loud in protest for the match which has been signed, sealed and destined to happen on Nov. 13.

As shown in various Internet polls, a great number of boxing fans have been encouraging people to boycott the fight as a way of dramatizing their protest over the choice of Margarito as Pacquiao's next opponent.

Margarito for his part, continues to deny his participation in the illegal hand wrapping controversy.

In one of his media interviews, he said, "I want to say I have never fought with anything illegal. I didn't fight with anything illegal that night. I've always been a clean fighter," he insisted.

In fairness to Margarito, he has not been found guilty by a court of law in the United States.

But public opinion is taking its toll on the Mexican-American boxer after he was meted out a one-year suspension by the California Sports Athletic Commission.

The sports regulating body believes he knew what was placed inside his hand wraps.

The year-end fight between Pacquiao and Margarito continues to gather flak from the public for its ill-conceived match-up.

Getting most of the blame from boxing fans is Top Rank head Bob Arum for his unrelenting efforts in pushing the unwanted match despite the public outcry on the illegal hand wraps controversy and the reported unwarranted pressure on Texas licensing body for the issuance of Margarito's license to practice his profession in the state.

Boxing fans do not understand why Arum chose Margarito, despite his controversial hand wrapping case, over other Top Rank fighters who are more deserving of the opportunity to face Pacquiao.

Others say, it was just a business decision on the part of Bob Arum. Still others say Arum could have looked outside of his Top Rank in-house fighters and reached out to other promoters for a more acceptable match that boxing fans will truly enjoy.

Sadly, Margarito and Pacquiao will collide on Nov. 13 amid the raging opposition to this year's most unwanted boxing match.