ANTONIO MARGARITO

updated July 27, 2008

At the age of 30, Antonio is a 14-year pro - he made his debut at 15. The former WBO welterweight world champion, he won the title in March, 2002, and made seven successful defenses before losing the title in July, 2007.

Antonio is coming off a sensational first-round TKO win against former NABF lightweight and welterweight champion Golden Johnson in his last fight in November.

Antonio lost the WBO welterweight world title by 12 round decision in his previous fight against Paul Williams in July, 2007.

At the press conference after the fight, Antonio said, "He threw more punches, but I landed the harder punches. When I was smiling during the first half of the fight, it was because I wasn't getting hit. I was blocking everything. After the ninth round, I felt that I was ahead on all scorecards. I know I hurt him several times. Everyone in the arena knows I won."

Antonio later told Boxingtalk.net, "You know, honestly, during the fight I thought I was well ahead on the cards. But then when I sat down to watch the fight, I saw that they gave him the fight just because he threw more punches, like an amateur fight. I connected more blows than him and he simply slapped. He threw double what I threw and I landed more punches. It seems the judges scored his slaps instead of the punches that I got through. Although, as everyone mentioned, I did learn from that fight that I can no longer be slow starter. From now on I plan to get right to it from the opening bell. I learned plenty from that fight."

Antonio 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.